The Calling
by stones
Summary: It took her months to pick herself back up. It took him a single second to make her fall again. Itachi/Sakura
1. day one

**_The Calling_ is the sequel to _The Awakening_. I greatly suggest reading _The Awakening_ if you have not or just skim it over if you have.**

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**The Calling**

by **stones**

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**Day One**

On the first day, she was anxious.

Haruno Sakura had always been used to rejection and ill-fated farewells. Never once had she necessarily embraced this fate, but it was what she was dealt albeit she wasn't sure how to play the cards laid in front of her. Unbidden and entirely unneeded situations were something that she knew she would always find herself in no matter how hard to she tried to keep out of it. It always seemed to find her. And just when she had finally thought that she had said goodbye to her last headache, she realized that goodbyes were never final and fate had a funny way of sneaking up behind you and pushing you in a new direction, not caring if the results would end up forgiving.

It was no surprise that she had gone back to her normal life, though she would never mark it as such. Sparring with Naruto still deemed to be challenging although she was getting close to gaining the half-inch in step and finally sending that punch right in the gut. Though when she fought, she thought not of the person who was really standing in front of her. More or less, she picked someone to direct her aggression towards and usually the victims remained the same—both of them being Uchihas. Long, hard hours at the hospital further increased her skill with controlling her chakra, though it was already close to perfect. But, she understood perfection was not something to try to reach for perfection did not exist and what good was it to chase something that didn't exist? It was foolish to say the least.

Unfortunately, she was a fool.

For so long she had chased after Uchiha Sasuke and tried to catch the feeling of love and embed it deeply within her so that she could channel into it whenever she needed that last bit of reassurance. For so long she had strived to become the ultimate candidate to stay at his side and fight as an equal. For so long she didn't even care if he didn't see her as an equal. She wanted him no matter the conditions. And pathetically, she still did. Though she couldn't forget about the elder brother. No, something about him still plagued her thoughts like an unwanted white elephant. She couldn't quite label it love. No, it definitely didn't meet the criteria. But if not love, then what? Perhaps she would settle with attraction. Or maybe just interest. Yes, interest was safer.

"You understand the mission then?" the Hokage asked from behind her desk, picking at her nails with a bored expression. Sakura, across from her, nodded dutifully.

"Yes," she whispered, further reassuring her knowledge of the plan for the days to come.

"Good," Tsunade grunted, looking from her nails to the pink-haired girl in front of her. "It shouldn't be too difficult. Naruto can go with you, but I'm sorry to say that he will have to leave to take care of some other business."

"I'll be fine," Sakura replied, fully confident. She certainly possessed enough skill to break down walls. Finding her way back to Konoha would be a breeze.

"I know you will," the Hokage answered, sending a sad smile Sakura's way. "I just feel sort of mean for sending you on such an easy mission like this. We both know you deserve more."

Sakura had thought she had moved on from delivery missions a few years ago and yet here she was about to embark on one, though she couldn't put any sort of blame on the Hokage. Even Tsunade could sense the strange mood set deep into Sakura's current personality. She was sure anyone could, now that she really thought about it. Tsunade opened a drawer dramatically, letting it bang as she pulled it. With the click of her tongue, she retrieved the scroll, handing it over to Sakura.

"I'll take whatever I can get," Sakura answered as she took the scroll, sending a shrug towards her mentor. "I just need to get back into the swing of things."

"I like that," the Hokage said with a smile, pouring herself a glass of sake. She lifted it too her smiling lips and took a delicate sip. She laughed, shoulders lifting. "Back into the swing of things."

It sounded just as good to Sakura.

**X**

She twirled the ring in her hand and wondered if she had ever felt a ring weigh this heavy. Her finger lightly grazed over the kanji that contrasted greatly with the red background, but at the same time, blended so well. The colors associated with different things in her life. Blood. Tomatoes. Eyes. Brothers. Though her lips should have curved down, a small smile fanned itself over dry lips, a small shake of a laugh moving over her.

It was ironic almost, or maybe just a cruel teasing done by nothing other than fate who had taken a liking to messing with her. She had found it lying lonely under the chair she had fanned the cloak over, and figured that it must have been hidden in it, falling out just for her to retrieve. And every night since she had noticed it, she continued to partake in a sort of ritual, though thinking of it as such made her stomach turn. She still held that small section of his cloak, rubbing the red cloud with her thumb as she spent her sleepless nights in bed. But the ring had been added to this and before she would shuffle to bed, she would crouch by the wooden chair and inspect the ring, looking to see if anything had changed. And night after night, she saw that nothing had, and she would carefully set the ring in its proper place, which was the only area not covered in dust under the chair. It was unnerving to say the least. But the nights went by and her interest disintegrated. The last couple of weeks, it had sat underneath that chair alone, forgotten.

But now she held it in her hand during the day, the sunlight making the red of the ring sparkle dangerously. She had finally taken a wet rag and ran it underneath he chair, wiping away the dust and old memories, lifting the ring to get it out of her way. Now as she glanced down at it, she tilted her head. It was virtually useless to her, but for some reason, she didn't want to throw it away. Again, she was interested. What would she do with it while she was away for the mission? She figured it would be safer sitting in its designated spot underneath the wooden chair, but there was that prickle of curiosity—the one that usually got her into a lot of trouble. She pocketed it quickly with a jump as it almost fell out of her hands when someone had knocked on the door loudly.

"Naruto," she greeted with a sincere smile after opening the door to reveal her light-hearted friend. He grinned back, stepping into her apartment as she moved aside. He scratched his chin thoughtfully as they settled in the living room, old couches giving way as they sat.

"Excited for the mission, huh?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows as though he were suggesting something else. She laughed, shaking her head.

"It's just to deliver a scroll," she replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"Deliver a scroll!" he said as he leaned forward, eyes wide. She smiled wide, biting her lower lip in an attempt not to laugh. "Sakura if there's anyone that can do it, it's you!"

"Nice try, Naruto," she sighed. "It's not big, but you know, that's okay."

"Sure it is," he agreed, nodding his head. "You've been working so hard at the hospital that it'll be good for you to get out and do something different for a change."

She nodded, a content look thinning out over her lips. "How about your mission?"

"Confidential," he said with a wink. "You know how that goes."

But really, she didn't. Her last mission that had been confidential was so long ago that she could barely remember it. Her training nowadays relied so heavy on her medical abilities that her skills were needed in the hospital and occasionally for research. She missed that secret feeling of selfishly enjoying the fact that she had something to do alone and that it was covert to the rest of the world.

"Well," he said, continuing as he slapped his knees to catch Sakura's attention, "the reason I came here is to ask you if you wanted to get some ramen. Kakashi-sensei said he'd meet us there."

"Yeah, sure," she said, nodding as a large grin spread over her face, cheeks lifting back to their jolly form. He sat up and she perked up instantly, holding a finger up. "Let me go grab a sweater."

Before Naruto had the chance to say anything, she disappeared into her room. She grabbed a sweater from the floor and made her way back into the living room. Naruto was already waiting by the door, hands in his pockets.

"Sakura, I don't think you need that sweater," he said, eyebrow lifting at her. "If you haven't noticed, it's hot out. It's _been_ hot out."

"Oh," she said, looking down to the sweater in her hands. She shrugged, throwing the sweater on the couch in the living room behind them.

"Where have you been lately?" he asked with a smile on his face, opening the door for her. She smiled genuinely at him before exiting her apartment. They both walked away from her apartment and she shrugged, smile on her face.

"I don't know, but I'm coming back."

**X**

Idly, she swirled her ramen, eyes staring straight at the eye that was closed off to her and the rest of the world. Naruto had been talking in the background and every now and then she would give him a small nod, allowing him to continue further. Their lazy teacher wasn't particularly listening; rather, he found his attention focused on his book. Sakura, being so used to this simple fact, continued to stare at his covered eye, not looking away when she brought some ramen to her mouth.

Something bumped into her shoulder and her arm knocked against the ramen in front of her, spilling some small spurts everywhere. Jumping, she turned to what had hit her and found a nervous looking blonde-haired boy next to her, smiling sheepishly.

"Whoops," he murmured, scratching the back of his head. She tried to wipe the food off her forearm, glancing up at Kakashi to notice that he was looking at her, bored expression on his face. "It's just that you were staring, Sakura," Naruto continued, mouth tilting in contemplation as he looked to Kakashi.

"No, I wasn't," Sakura replied quickly, shaking her head.

"Yes you were!" Naruto persisted, pointing at Kakashi.

She looked up at Kakashi, who continued to look at her with drooped eyes. His gaze had proved to be very penetrating despite the relaxing look. "I wasn't looking at you," she said, shaking her head again as if it would better help her argument. His eyebrow lifted, book still held in his hands. "I was looking at…your book."

"My book?" Kakashi asked, finally speaking.

"His book?" she heard Naruto ask behind her.

She nodded and shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah. You know, his book."

The air filled with an awkward silence and she laughed, perhaps thinking it could lighten the mood. She watched her former teacher with a weary eye as he shifted in his seat, turning to look straight at her with his one uncovered eye. He lifted his book up and let it fall shut. Slowly, it moved towards her and she could do nothing but stare at it in a sort of shock.

"Want it?"

She was sure if Naruto hadn't been so shocked he would have asked why she would want it in the first place. It must have been a trick. It _had_ to be. She looked back to the elder's face, scanning it for any doubts. But she had found none and with that, she brought her eyes back to the book.

"I have another copy of this volume at home," he explained, shrugging only slightly. She reached her hand up, pausing before her fingers touched the cover. When she looked up at him, his eyebrows were slanted, his cheeks lifted as if she were to pull his mask aside, she would end up finding a smirk. "If you really want it, Sakura, you can have it."

Quickly so as to not second-guess herself, she snatched it out of his hands, rolling it tightly into her own. She stood quickly, looking to Naruto.

"I'll see you later," she murmured, nervously moving the small book from one hand to the other. "I need to go clean before we leave."

The book felt wrong in her hands, almost as if it were forbidden. She walked to her apartment with quick, graceful steps, stuffing the key into the lock hole when she had reached her door. Once inside, she threw the book and her keys on the counter of her kitchen, running her hair through her fingers with a large sigh.

She was excited.

For what, she didn't quite know. The mission, she figured, was making her anxiousness—perhaps because it would be the first in a while. It was a simple mission, one she had done in the past, but one loses certain talents if one does not use them. It was a silly thought, but what if she were to fail? She fell onto her couch, arms stretched over her head. What if she could not complete something that was considered simple? She watched the small speckles of dust in the air shine in the sunlight, following them with her eyes as they floated past each other. They bumped into each other, each going their separate way.

And as her eyes slowly closed, she couldn't help but be saddened at the thought that life was moving too fast and if she didn't catch on quick, she'd be watching it go.

**X**

She woke with a start, neck cracking painfully as her headshot up.

Her hair was a mess, eyes swollen with fatigue. She had looked to the door, a loud banging filled her ears. Once she heard the person say her name, she sighed heavily, gathering herself up from the couch. She glanced quickly at her window, noticing that night had taken over, the sky was dark, and she was sure that if the lights of the village weren't so bright, that she would see the stars shining brightly, giving her some ray of hope.

She opened the door reluctantly, feeling groggier as the man on the other side gave her smile. "Naruto."

"Sakura!" he greeted, pushing past her to enter her apartment. His hands were placed proudly on his sides as he glanced around. "I thought you were going to clean."

Sakura stood behind him, closing the door. Her eyes, however, were on her apartment, which should have been renamed a disaster zone. There were different clothes strewn around the living room, a big pile of dishes loitered in the sink in the kitchen. She shrugged as she stepped next to him. "Yeah, me too."

"Well, let's go!" he said as he clapped his hands together, rubbing them with excitement.

"Now?" she asked incredulously.

"When'dja think?" he asked. She walked further into her cramped apartment, brushing her hair from her face. "It's a little past nine. It's cooler to travel at night. We'll keep going until about midnight, then set up camp."

"We can't go now," she argued, turning back to him, shaking her head lightly. "I was planning on taking a shower, packing some extra things."

"No time, Sakura," Naruto insisted, shaking his head back at her. "Grab whatever you can. We need to go. The rest of my team is waiting by the gates."

With a grumble, she entered into her room, grabbing some shirts from her drawers and stuffing them in a bag. She proceeded to fill it with skirts and shorts and some food pills, grabbing the scroll from her nightstand and placing it safely inside. She reappeared in the living room, trying her best not to direct her annoyance at Naruto who was waiting innocently by the door. She moved to her kitchen counter, pushing her apartment keys into her bag along with the book that she was too lazy to move.

"Ready?" he asked, opening the door with a sad smile.

She sighed, grinning at him as she rolled her eyes. "As ready as I'll ever be."

**X**

The tent was stuffy, the humid air greatly contributing to this. They had nearly reached the border of Rain and already she could feel the rain clouds looming overhead, bringing gloom and desperation. Had she felt more energized, she figured she would have further pondered this feeling, maybe even begin to analyze while she stared straight up at nothing, lying in the small tent with Naruto snoring loudly beside her.

She shifted, turning onto her side. When she did this, something sharp dug into her hipbone, making her turn onto her back once more with a scowl. After reaching down to her pocket, she immediately felt what was causing this, and she took it into her fingers, squinting to try and see the ring in the dark. She had forgotten that she had stuffed it into her pocket, but it certainly didn't mind resurfacing again, just to remind her that it was always there.

She thought she was seeing things when she saw a light blink for a split second. Sitting up, back facing her blonde-haired friend, she stared at the ring closer. And there it was again. For a split second, the ring flashed. A few seconds later, it happened again. When she heard Naruto shift beside her, she smothered the ring in her hand, turning slightly to acknowledge him as he yawned.

"Sakura?"

"Yes, Naruto?" she asked quickly with a sharp whisper.

She twisted fully to look at him, soft eyes scanning his drooping, tired expression. He looked around the small tent, blinking only once. She lifted her eyebrows expectantly, but he did nothing but fall back onto his sleeping bag, turning away from her.

"Never mind," he yawned. "Just seeing things."

She nodded, looking back at her clenched hands around the ring. Once she heard his breathing regulate, she unclenched her hand, waiting for the blinking light. When it happened, she wasn't quite sure how to feel. But something was happening and it was not to be ignored.

The Callings had begun.

**X**

**X**

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Chapter Preview:

Something was happening.

Her instinct was itching in the back of her head, trying to warn her of events about to happen. The sky was growing dark, the humid air made her forehead sleek with sweat. She glanced around the area, finding it very hard to do so with the thick fog clinging onto everything so tightly and desperately that it strung her feelings of anxiousness even higher for she felt that she was losing her grip on the reality around her. The tips of her pink hair were already brown with dirt that was turning into a muddy mixture from the moisture nearly drowning her. She heard a rustling beside her and for a minute, she felt time skip because suddenly someone was in front of her. In the back of her mind, she could heard the faint sound of bells ringing.

It felt unreal.

Her eyes first landed on his feet, scanning slowly to catch a cloudy glimpse of red. She squinting, trying to see through the fog. The figure was so dark, so looming that she stepped back. And she knew that she was in trouble when the figure titled his straw hat up and revealed his red eyes.

Rich, deep, red eyes.

"Medic."

**A/N: Thank you for reading. Review?**


	2. day two

**The Calling**

by **stones**

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**Day Two**

On the second day, she was feeling a tad bit uneasy.

She awoke this time feeling purpose. It was still so early in the morning, she could feel and smell the moisture of the dew spread upon the grass outside, reflecting everything in such a way that there was no hiding from the truth—but this time, she decided, she would face this reality and do anything to bring back normalcy. She wasn't quite sure what this entitled, but she figured she would take it step by step and eventually everything would fall in to place.

Who would have thought that it would just unravel further?

She woke to the sound of Naruto shifting next to her, running his hands through his hair with a heavy yawn that coursed through his body, tempting to let herself omit her own. As he stumbled out of the tent, she retrieved the ring from under her pillow, keeping it closed in her clenched fist, almost afraid to look at it. When she heard faint talking outside of the tent, she opened her hand, keeping her eyes focused on the ring sitting on the palm of her sweaty hand. As she looked at the ring, it resembled what it did only a few weeks ago—a dull, cruel teasing, which further led her to question if she had even seen that blinking light at all.

"Sakura," someone said behind her. She jumped, holding the ring close to her, shielding it away from the world. It was hers alone. Only for her eyes. Her greedy, selfish eyes. Naruto looked at her expectantly, tired lines under his eyes. "We're going soon."

"Right," she said with a nod, sending a sort of reassuring smile towards him.

Naruto, not fully understanding the ways of the female mind, but understanding enough to know that women like Sakura did not liked to be bothered to a large extent in the morning, gave her an awkward smile before disappearing once more, the flap of the opened tent swaying as he took his leave. As it stilled, she rotated the ring in her hand, eyes still fixed on the spot Naruto had just left. Instantly, she felt distant.

She could almost see him there, poking his head through the tent, only instead of Naruto, eyes red and dark, hair messy and untidy, telling her to hurry up for she was taking too long. Almost as if this was really happening, she rolled her eyes with a smile-- though he wouldn't take this kindly. He would send her a look of his own, that look she knew so well, and even though it would always bring uneasy feelings, she would do anything to see it again.

But she turned her back on the opening of that tent and looked back at the ring, running her finger over it. Today she would have to focus. Today, she decided, was nothing but business. Today was the day that she would redeem herself and become the person she had always wanted to be. She was never quite sure what she wanted to do, but she knew the woman she wanted to become, and suddenly, everything was growing clear. She was sure of it.

Because the day that he left, she screamed and she cried.

She wasn't done screaming, but she promised herself that she was done crying.

**X**

All that she could hear was the whizzing sound of branches passing by as they jumped from tree to tree. Some stray leaves slapped against her bare legs, giving her a taunting reminder that she was always left vulnerable somewhere. Later she would wear longer pants, remedying this thought, though it would do no good. There was no hiding what would always be seen. Though she was strong and confidently accepted that fact, she couldn't help but feel that she was once again straggling behind.

She glanced ahead at the figures bouncing from tree to tree, though they looked like small blurs passing her by. She did not fit with this team, though she tried to her best. A vision of blonde caught her eye and she gazed ahead at Naruto as he continued forward. Next to him, she could just imagine Sasuke. The images were of them during their younger years—chubby cheeks, soft, curved eyebrows, and a fake mature sense that they so naively were sure they possessed. And here she was, running behind and expectantly waiting for their directions and protection. Well, she told herself, not this time.

She sped up, falling in step with their fast movements. Just as soon as she was at their pace, they all stopped and she paused on a tree branch, glancing behind her shoulder to look at where they had all stopped. The branch that she landed on bobbed up and down, making the image of Naruto's team shake erratically as she glanced at them. Without wasting anymore time, she jumped back to them, landed softly on her feet. Naruto turned immediately to her as one of his other teammates spoke, voice deep.

"Strong chakra."

Sakura focused, eyes scanning the greenery around them. Now that she concentrated, she could feel the chakra. She was surprised she had missed it before. It was large, overpowering. It felt as if there was so much of it that it channeled into her own body, filling her with adrenaline and power. It slowly faded, though, becoming a far smaller threat. Still, they all stood rigid, expecting the worst to come. With the rustle of some bushes, they all turned to the noise, falling into their own unique stances. Sakura's fingers shook with excitement as she crouched, hand near the kunai strapped to her foot. The threat, however, was not deemed to be such a hazard. It entered the small clearing slowly, putting them all in a sort of comfortable reassurance. When they stepped into vision, Sakura, along with Naruto and his team, relaxed. They too were Leaf.

There were four of them, masks on their faces, hiding their identities away from the world. Her throat, she realized, was very dry as they neared. They did not walk with strong, sturdy steps. They used small movements signalizing discomfort and when she was close enough to see the red on their uniforms, her medic side kicked in and she stepped forward to the closest one to grab his arm, inspecting the large cut on his forearm.

"What happened?" she asked, once they had all settled in the isolated clearing, the heavy air reeking with blood and sweat. The earth was trembling. She knew they all felt it.

"Akatsuki," one said from behind her. Sakura looked from her current patient to steal a glance at the one who had just spoke, eyes furrowing together. They had all paused from what they were doing to listen closer. In the corner of her vision she could see Naruto drop the sticks he had been chucking into the fire that was giving him difficulty, only to thin his lips and look back at the pieces of wood.

"How many?" Sakura asked, ripping her attention away, determined to keep focused on the bleeding arm that she was cleaning.

"One."

"Just one?" Sakura asked, knowing that they usually traveled in pairs. "What did he look like?"

"Large," the ANBU answered simply, leaving Sakura wishing for more. She didn't turn away from her duties. No matter how much she wanted to, there were more importantly things that she had to do—that she was _supposed_ to do.

"Large as in tall? Muscular? Heavy built?" she asked, questions shooting out rapidly. She wiped away the last trickles of blood, throwing the dirty cloth to the side. She ran some of her chakra through her fingertips and onto the wound, giving it the extra push towards healing.

"What's with the interest? It was an Akatsuki. That should be enough to take alarm."

Sakura huffed, grabbing the gauze beside her quickly. She ripped into it, beginning to wrap it around her patient's arm. There was a moment of silence, the only thing heard was Sakura's movement as she wrapped the gauze around the newly treated wound and the clang of wood toppling as Naruto attempted to build the fire.

"He had a large sword," the ANBU she was treating said just as Sakura had finished wrapping the wound. She looked back at him as she packed her medical supplies away. "Known to travel with an Uchiha."

And it was then when she remembered the ring in her pocket, annoyingly digging into her hip.

"Where is he?" Sakura asked desperately.

The ANBU shrugged. "Around."

"You know, Sakura," she heard Naruto say behind her. Immediately she prepared herself. He was going to give her the protective guilt trip. "Maybe you should go back to Konoha with them."

"Naruto-"

"This area just isn't safe for you traveling alone," he started, forgetting the campfire once again. "Not just you, but anyone."

"-I'll be fine."

She had said it sternly enough for Naruto to get the picture. She wanted him to drop it and for now, he would oblige. It grew quiet again as everyone occupied themselves with their own business, some more important than others. Sakura, volunteering to retrieve more wood, made her way into the surrounding area, looking over her shoulder as the clearing grew smaller. When she was far enough from the camp, far away from everyone's prying eyes, she pulled the ring from her finger and paused in her steps. Enveloping the ring in her hands, she peeked through a tiny crack in her palms and without a doubt, she could see the flickering flight.

Something was calling her, and it wouldn't stop.

It wasn't just the ring. Even though the ground itself wasn't moving, she swore she could feel the earth shaking even harder than before.

**X**

"I should be leaving soon," she said as she looked over her things, Naruto approaching from behind. Her eyes scanned her bag filled with extra clothes and her simple medical kit. For a second her heart throbbed with nervousness when she hadn't seen the scroll, but gave a sigh of relief when she found it squished at the bottom of her bag.

He sighed, making Sakura a little tense. "I don't have a good feeling about this."

Neither did she.

"Naruto, I'll be fine," she insisted, turning around to give him a confident smile that greatly contradicted everything she was feeling at the moment. She lifted her hand to lay it on his shoulder and gave him a sure nod. "It's just a delivery. It'll be over in no time."

"What if you run into someone dangerous," he countered, giving her a sad smile. He didn't dare shrug away her hand for that would do nothing but push her away. Instead, he took his own hand and placed in on her shoulder, faces even. "I don't want you to get into trouble."

"As soon as I see those red clouds, I'll turn tail and run," she said, her voice drifting back and forth from deceiving to truthful. Dropping her hand from his shoulder and shrugging his off, she turned back to her bag, zipping it shut. She hoisted it onto her shoulder and straightened out her clothes—a sort of preparation.

"I would never forgive myself if something were to happen to you," Naruto announced, causing a jolt of guilt to course through her. This was something she was sure she didn't deserve. He was something she figured she had always taken for granted.

"Naruto," she whispered, voice soft. "Nothing bad will happen."

Or at least she hoped.

**X**

It was late already. She figured if she didn't stop that'd she have the scroll delivered by tonight. Rest for the night and then once the sun engulfed the world in light and new beginnings, she would make her way back to Konoha—back to normalcy. The sun was low in the sky. Brilliant hues of deep reds and rich purples flooded the sky and her sight, making her wish that she could just stop to look around and take a deep breath. The moments were rare when one actually paid attention to the minor details usually overlooked, only to realize the most things beautiful are right in front of you, waiting for your acceptance. She could connect to that.

The weather, however, could have been better. She was still in Rain Country, though closing on the border fast. It didn't change the humid temperature however and sweat lined her skin, making her clothes and hair stick to her flesh irritatingly. It made her feel enclosed, almost suffocated. And she was ready to reach fresh air. Very ready.

She stopped for a second, looking down at the hand that was holding the ring, and had been holding it ever since she left Naruto and the camp. It had stopped calling to her a while ago, but still she had it in her hand just in case something were to happen. For this time, she determined, she would be prepared. This time she would take all the clues that were so kindly laid out in front of her and piece together the puzzle of her path. Easier said than done.

The sky was now much darker for the sun seemed desperate to escape the world, and Sakura, well, she couldn't really blame it. The sky turned into a dull dark blue, spreading darkness over what was once a sight to behold. Now the sky held other feelings. Anxiousness. Fear. Maybe even a slight pang of rejection. For the sky might have been dark, but someone's hair was so much darker. The humid air might have been warm, but someone's piercing look was so much hotter. Going for a mission was good, but being with Sasuke would have been better.

And then it happened.

Her nerves ran high. She planted her feet firmly on the ground, determined not too lose her balance with both her body and her mind. Once again she could feel the overpowering energy, swirling around her, growing closer and closer until the mixture of heat, humidity, and force were wrapping themselves around her throat and tightening painfully. Her fingers twitched lightly once before she pulled them into fists.

Something was happening.

Her instincts were itching in the back of her head, trying to warn her of events about to happen. The sky was growing dark, the humid air made her forehead sleek with sweat. She glanced around the area, finding it very hard to do so with the thick fog clinging onto everything so tightly and desperately that it strung her feelings of anxiousness even higher, for she felt that she was losing her grip on the reality around her. The tips of her pink hair were already brown with dirt that was turning into a muddy mixture from the moisture nearly drowning her. She heard a rustling beside her and for a minute, she felt time skip because suddenly someone was in front of her.

Her eyes first landed on his feet, scanning slowly to catch a cloudy glimpse of red. She squinting, trying to see through the fog. The figure was so dark, so looming that she stepped back. She dropped her bag onto the ground with a heavy thump, her things scattering on the ground. And she knew that she was in trouble when the figure titled his straw hat up and revealed his red eyes.

Rich, deep, red eyes.

"Medic."

She wasn't sure if he had really said it, for at the moment, nothing seemed real. His voice was so thick that it had cut through the bulky fog, making her clench her fists tighter, nails digging into her skin. She opened the hand the ring was not in, the tips of her fingers grazing over the tip of the kunai hidden away from open eyes.

"Uchiha."

Her voice sounded foreign. It was deeper than usual, laced with confidence, caked with suspicion, and most of all, decorated with fear. All of her feelings clashed against each other, bumping and thrashing until they all cancelled each other out, leaving her emotionless as she stared back at the stoic man in front of her.

"You have something that belongs to me," he announced, slowly removing the straw hat from his head. Once again, she took heed to the red ring clenched in her hand, painfully digging into her skin.

"You have something that belongs to me," she replied sharply. The last time she had seen this Uchiha, he had taken some things she so desperately valued. Her mind, for instance, had been set. She knew where she stood and certainly knew where her loyalty laid. With her amazing village, but most importantly, with an Uchiha, and it wasn't with the one standing in front of her. But he had gone and decided to muss up these neat ideals, making her scramble to put them back into place. He had stolen a kiss—she pushed aside the fact that she had engaged in it too. After all, it took two to tango. But most importantly he had stolen a small place in her heart, one devoted strongly to someone else, and she was determined to get it back.

A million emotions flooded her. A million memories drowned her. She felt it all. But most of all, she was pissed.

It was a constant battle. Because when she pushed, he pushed. And when she pulled, he pulled. It was the dance that they had come to know and would never forget.

He did not ask questions, rather, he let go of his hat and Sakura watched in the corner of her vision as it drifted slowly to the ground, seemingly going in slow motion. It landed on the wet grass, pushing the green blades aside. He began to remove his cloak and she spared a glance at the small rip in the corner, the rip where her piece had come from. They had both taken something from each other. Sakura was reluctant to let this notion go. His cloak landed in a heap atop of his hat, the darkness of the fabric beginning to blend into the grass that was slowly turning murky. The sun, she had realized, was nearly gone.

Her eyes caught red for a second and she looked past his shoulder, slowly letting her fingers wrap around the kunai strapped to her leg. She had no doubt that he noticed this. It was obvious. It was rash. It was how Sakura did things. In a second, she had flung it forward, aiming straight for the Uchiha's head. It was no surprise to her that it had not connected. As she looked, she realized he was not standing anywhere near. She glanced around, hair whipping back and forth as she quickly analyzed her surroundings. She heard him before she saw him.

"Too slow."

She whirled around, fist already prepared to connect with his gut. But once again she was left with nothing but air. Relying on instinct, she flipped backwards, successfully dodging a blow from him. Her only option, she figured, was to cause distraction. Quickly, she gathered her chakra into her fist as she had done so many times before, the feeling of the ring in her energy-charged hand feeling awkward. She sent her fist downward, crashing into the earth violently. The ground, she could hear, had not cracked due to the moisture all around. But the ground did shake erratically, causing a certain Uchiha to be caught of guard. She smirked when she saw him in the corner of her eye next to him, and without wasting any time, she pounced, tackling him to the ground with a juvenile style, though it mattered little to her. He was below her and already she could feel him moving. Panic-driven, she sent another fist to his body, happy with the fact that she had skimmed his cheek, no doubt leaving some kind of scratch. As soon as her triumph had happened, it had disappeared. In the blink of an eye, her back connected with the ground, knocking the air from her body and her reason from her mind.

She opened her eyes wider, looking up into red.

"Finished?" he asked, a large exhale of air coming from his nose.

She nodded, closing her eyes shut. She was not about to get sucked into his world. Not after she had just found her way out.

She could feel him lift from her, finally giving her some room to breath though she still found it hard to do so. The air was even stuffier and her body was drenched with hard-earned sweat, as she figured, his was. And as if someone up in the sky saw her pity attempts and decided to take sympathy upon her, tiny drops of moisture landed on her forehead and she opened her mouth, breathing the wet air deeply.

As soon as she lifted herself, the rain started to pour harder until it was nearly pounding down upon them. She looked up at him, realizing he already had his cloak on and was putting on his straw hat. In her hand, she could feel the ring pulsate, though she had no doubt it was her lively imagination. And she figured if the sky wasn't so dark, she would feel better, knowing there was a rainbow waiting for her.

Her hair now was even rattier. Her clothes were muddy from the small scuffle. Slowly, she took her fingers up to her eyes and tried to rub away some of the make-up she could just imagine was running down her face messily. She gave her full attention to him then, trying to figure out what he was going to do next, though it was of no use. Uchihas were not made to be read.

"Come then," he suddenly said. "We'll find shelter."

She gave him an incredulous look, but quickly hid it. Pushing her tatty hair from her face, she made her way to her bag, shoving the wet clothes and ring from her hand back into the already soaking bag. She shook her head, glad she was not facing him, therefore, avoiding his intense stare.

"What if I don't want to?" she asked bitterly, zippering the bag back up. "What if I want to stay here?"

"You would not be lifting your bag onto your shoulders if that were the case," he replied, voice sounding too smug for her liking. She huffed, turning to him. "So we don't have to worry about that, do we?"

And with that, he already turned to leave. Sakura, searching around desperately, seemed to be looking for the easiest way out—the road with the bright lights, clearly labeled the right direction. But as she looked, she saw none of this, rather, she saw cloudiness, confusion, and loss. She watched herself as she stood fully from her crouch. She cursed herself as she stepped forward.

And she could not believe what she was doing as she followed him into the dark.

**X**

They had finally reached the small cluster of a village that they had seen from a distance, the lights dotting over the black horizon. It was still raining, though they hadn't been moving for long. As soon as they had walked a few feet, he took off, leaving Sakura to trail behind him, wishing that she could just take cover under some sort of tree. Was it really necessary to burden the small village with their presence? Well, she supposed it was to him.

The small wooden buildings came into view, the streets feeling empty as the rain pounded down upon the roofs of the houses, patting loudly against Sakura's eardrums. It was a large enough village to house travelers, though she wasn't really ready to jump for joy when she had seen the small inn. It was lacking anything traditional. It was tiny, dirty, and something about it made her want to stay out. Not enough to make her willing to sit out in the rain, however. They stopped in front of the entrance, and she shifted uneasily when she could feel his gaze on her. This was the moment Uchiha Itachi had chosen to fully look her over.

She was good looking, no doubt, but she didn't possess a storybook attractiveness to her. He wasn't even sure if he would call her appearance beautiful. If he had stumbled upon her in any other circumstances with other women around, he figured he probably would have looked past her after giving her strange colored hair a look, settling to lay his eyes on someone else. But now, as he looked her up and down, dark makeup running down her cheeks, eyes red with itch, and hair damp and limp with dirty rain, and hands shaking from the cold, he realized that her fingers were dry and rough, stories of past battles and lost dreams caked heavily into every fiber. He realized that she carried herself with a certain charm. She held confidence in her hands and all around her swirled determination. She wasn't gorgeous, but in the end, she didn't need to be. He, for some reason, didn't want her to be.

"Well?" Sakura finally cut in, voice sounding light against the heavy patter of the rain pouring down around them. She glanced over the small cut on his cheek. The small cut that she had managed to give him.

He merely quirked an eyebrow. Slowly, his arm came up and he stepped closer. And just like that Sakura caught sight of his thin lips, dotted with beads of rain, and could just feel her own pressed up against them as they had done so only a few months ago. The feeling was so strong, so pure, that she could feel it now. Such feelings did not fade away. They lived on.

His hand was close to her arm and she could feel the wet rain on his fingers graze her skin with a ghost-like charm. His hand continued to move forward, running up her arm. She looked up at him, at his deep red eyes. And for a second, she couldn't even hear the rain, just the world finally singing a song so silent that it was just the both of them. Just them. The Uchiha and her. But that moment had passed quickly as soon as his hand kept moving behind her. She tensed. Just what was he trying to do?

The next thing she felt was a small gust of wind from a door opening and he held it out, merely saying, "Ladies first."

"Never thought of you as a gentlemen," Sakura replied, finally tearing her eyes from him, taking a step back from the cloud of confusion that twirled around him, sucking her in whenever it had the chance.

"As you shouldn't."

'Asshole,' Inner Sakura huffed.

Outside of her head, however, Sakura merely shrugged, her eyes scanning around the small lobby of the hotel. The man at the reception desk looked up from the newspaper he had been reading, giving them one look over.

"One room?" he asked, already disappearing behind a door to already retrieve the keys.

Sakura's fingers fumbled with the edge of the reception desk, getting ready to correct the man. Two rooms. Not one.

The man came back, setting the keys down harshly on the desk, making Sakura's head jump at the loud noise. She licked her dry lips, lifting a finger to point out the receptionist's mistake.

"Yes, one room," Uchiha Itachi said next to her, cutting her off. Her head snapped to the side, giving him a look on the border of frustration and confusion.

"One room?" she asked, as Itachi looked over at the keys and the number of the room scribbled messily on the metal. Looking back for a second, she sent the receptionist a grateful look, turning back to continue walking.

"I suspect that you do not currently have enough money on you to pay for your own room," he explained, aiming the key for the lock. It missed and rubbed off on the wooden door, creating a scratch. With her eyebrows bent, she looked up at him. His face was emotionless, but she could see him try to hide an exhausted sigh. Slowly he straightened out, dignity written along those fine lines on his face, and slid the key into the lock, twisting it before the door opened. "I will be paying the expense. Two rooms are unnecessary." He titled his head slightly and Sakura looked up at him, his eyes seeming to look slightly past her. "Perhaps, _Sakura_, you should be more grateful."

Perhaps she should have. She thought otherwise.

She stepped into the room, met with a stuffy smell that greatly mirrored the scent of the muddy rain that had faded to a light drizzle. There was one bed that faced the left wall. She looked over to the side, grateful that there was a small bathroom. She walked further into the small room, leaving wet footprints in her wake. There were quiet sounds of movement behind her, and she turned, feeling completely vulnerable. In fact, what was she doing here? She tensed, clutching onto her bag tighter. Wasn't this the very thing she had promise Naruto wouldn't happen? Wasn't this going against everything she had ever worked for—everything she had ever loved? Wasn't this bordering betrayal?

She didn't want to admit it so freely, but yes, she believed it was.

Just what did the Uchiha expect from bringing her here? The whole scene was scandalous. She shook her head, giving an indication that this was not happening.

"This is wrong," she said against the light tapping of the drizzle on the roof. Nervously, she rubbed her right arm, trying to create some sort of warmth, some sort of shield over herself.

"You are free to go whenever you like."

That certainly didn't pose much of a threat. She searched him, keeping away from his eyes though this gave her a big disadvantage. Eyes were the gateway to the soul. They separate fact from fiction, truth from deception. But she gathered he could hide such things anyway. She let the strap from her bag slip from her shoulder, and her bag landed on the wooden floor. Sakura had never been a rational girl. He just blinked, followed by a curt nod.

"Rest," he simply said after a moment, turning to head for the door. "You look horrible."

"Yeah? Well you don't look so good yourself," she snapped back, crossing her arms in a clichéd sort of way. He turned, a small smirk that Sakura had deemed daunting and mocking adorning his face. He quirked one eyebrow.

"Oh? You don't think so?"

She snorted at his arrogance. Once he had finished taking pleasure from her moment of embarrassment and conflict from telling herself that he did not look good standing in the doorway mysteriously, he turned.

"Wait," she called out, stepping forward. He turned to look at her blankly and she pulled herself back, feet close together. "Where are you going?"

He didn't answer. She wasn't sure if she really expected him too.

"I don't know if I trust you," Sakura answered, turning to look at the bed. Anyone who would have said sleeping and being unconscious beside any S-class criminal, more importantly, a certain S-class criminal who had slain his entire family, leaving only one to pick up the pieces, was not scary certainly hadn't been put in this position. Or possessed any sort of common sense.

"If I were to kill you," he started slowly, "I would do it while you were conscious."

She snorted, rotating her tired neck. "That makes me feel much better." She tried running her hands through her hair, though the knots and dried mud had made that close to impossible. A nice, warm shower was in order. "You have a way with comforting someone."

"Don't get used to it," he replied, turning again.

She paused. This was all too surreal. Her relationship with this man was far too casual. Anyone would have been appalled by the way she was acting. But already the awkward stage was receding. The relationship that they had planted and grown those few months ago was blossoming already. She almost forgot how sarcastic and mocking he could be and how their personalities so greatly crashed, but then again, so nicely coexisted.

He was leaving right now, going who knows where. What if she was in the shower when he came back? The teenage girl in her blushed at this. He turned pushed open the door and Sakura cleared her throat.

"When will you be back?" she asked, surprising both him and her. She could see him visibly stiffen as she did the same. Without even turning around, he spoke, voice sounding highly amused.

"_Medic_, you are not my mother."

"Yes, I know," she responded, a sad smile on the corner of her lips. "We established that last time, _Uchiha_."

She watched as he disappeared, the door closing quietly.

As soon as she had situated herself, she made her way into the cramped bathroom that reminded her of her own back in Konoha. The water beat down upon her back. She turned up the pressure until it was near painful. She scrubbed her skin till it turned red with itch. The water was brown as it flowed from her drain. The dirt was murky, but the tension flowing away from her was even gloomier.

She tried desperately to wash away all of her past biases and the long and exhausting troubles clouding her mind the past few days. Once she was sure she was clean enough, she stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around herself. The mirror was clouded with fog and she wiped it away with a hand to look herself over. Her hair was a dull pink, having lost a lot of luster over the hard years. Her make-up was completely off, leaving her bare. But instead of cringing, she smiled, running her fingers along the glass.

Fashioning herself in some of the extra clothes she had brought, she locked the door. It would do little, she was sure. He did have the key after all. But knowing that she could make a small gesture, some kind of proof that she was trying to keep him away was something she wouldn't take a second-guess to doing, though it had proved to be all a lie.

That night she lay on the stiff bed in the hotel room, staring up at the ceiling. There wasn't a small watermark from the leak that she had in her apartment, but if she tried really hard and squinted, she could see it. Seeing Uchiha Itachi brought her back into the fake world she had created a long time ago, starting the day she had laid eyes on the beautiful Sasuke. These two brothers had a way of turning things around, making everything around her move slowly. Making her act upon impulse. Making her question everything about her. For sometimes, she felt she barely knew who she was. But she was determined to find out.

She promised herself she was done crying.

So she justified that small bead of liquid running down her cheek as some extra water stuck in her hair, finally falling from her pink tresses. She steadied her breaths and closed her eyes.

Once again the room was still, but her world was shaking.

**X**

**X**

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Chapter Preview:

"Give it back, pervert," she warned.

"Pervert? Medic, I suggest you take a look at yourself before calling others names," he said, his face completely serious. His eyes, deep red, she realized were darker and sharper. The red was so dark that she could have considered it to be on the edge of black. On the edge of insanity. And with the counting of the pupils in his eyes, she realized, that he was looking past her. Or perhaps it was just her vivid imagination. Perhaps it was a cruel metaphor. The mood changed drastically from teasing to serious. The eyes that had suddenly become so very different than Sasuke's. Later she would think back and conclude that they just seemed more _real_.

**A/N: Thank you for reading and please review!**


	3. day three

**The Calling**

by **stones**

* * *

**Day Three**

On the third day, she felt disappointed.

She was disappointed with the mission given to her, her aggressive ideals that had so suddenly become passive, and most of all, she was disappointed with herself.

When Sakura was younger, she was quick to blurt out what was on her mind. Her thoughts were jumbled, messy. Back then she would have it no other way. She had been so proud of her outbursts and fiery attitude. Some complimented her, others told her it was unbecoming of a growing girl. But Sakura did not just want to be an ordinary girl. Her sights had long laid on the idea of being a successful woman, nose held high, held in the arms of a dark-haired Uchiha. But once he had left, the vision had become blurry. It had become unfocused. It was then that she decided that the emotions she so lively flaunted had to go. They were a burden. They were a mistake. They were a weakness. They held her back.

So she studied. She thought of all the great men that she knew. Her mentor at the time, Kakashi, was great at controlling the more important and aggressive emotions. She thought of Naruto. He was strong, determined, and even though tragedy had struck, he had a way of making her feel better about it.

"How's your ramen?" he asked her once while they sat at the ramen bar. She shrugged, knowing he meant more. Her face had been solemn as it had been for the last couple of days since he left. There were heavy bags under her eyes, a sign of little sleep. There were blisters on her fingers and cuts on her hands, a sign that frustration prickled inside of her, pushing her too hard. He knew this feeling all too well. Naruto had seen this transformation. And he knew one thing: he didn't like it.

She looked away, her hope of finding a light conversation gone. She didn't need this constant reminder of what had happened. It flowed through her head enough as it was. "It's cold." Naruto was about to open his mouth, most likely demanding that the waitress bring a hot bowl of ramen pronto. But Sakura reached forward and put a light hold on his hand. "It's okay. Tragedy has struck us. It will get better and then it will happen again. It's the way life works." She wished that she could believe what she so easily said.

"Sakura," Naruto said, almost speechless as she spoke. For so long he had tried to crack open her shell. Ever since they had been little, he so desperately longed to get close to anyone. Especially the pink-haired girl in his class who would push him away, stick her tongue out at him and occasionally throw things at him. He had tried to become accustomed to the fact that some just lost and others just won. Sasuke, for instance, would always be a winner. And he, well, he would always be Naruto. But now, he had made his way further into the complex being that was Sakura. He didn't want to push it, no. He knew that that would only make her pull back. So he blinked slowly, savoring the small moment. "Tragedy has struck us. But lightening never strikes the same place once." He shrugged lightly, smile on his face. "I doubt tragedy is any different."

And for the first time in days, Sakura had smiled.

Yes, Naruto was a great man indeed. She didn't doubt that his life would be full of happy tidings, successful adventures, and loving friends. But this didn't even come close to what someone else had. Someone else had confidence. It might have been faked, but no one could have told the difference. Someone else had reason. Sakura had just been running through life on a whim, not looking to the future or anything else the world could possibly hold for her. Just waiting for her to take the jump and grab onto chance, seeing where it would lead her. Someone had a purpose. This special someone was Uchiha Sasuke. And he was one of the greatest men she was sure she'd ever meet.

What did these men have in common? What made them great? Sakura spent many nights pondering this as she stared at the ceiling, tossing and turning because her curious mind would not rest. After a week or two, she thought she finally understood. Suddenly, it all made sense. She had witnessed these men at one time or the other meditating. This had to be the secret. The secret that would make her stronger.

It happened only once, but Sakura figured she had only _seen_ it once. And just because you don't see something happening, doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Once she had passed by Naruto on the street. At first she smiled happily at him, but she realized he hadn't noticed her. Rather, he was staring off. She followed his gaze, which landed on the Hokage Mountain. She looked back to him and scanned his face. The look he was adorning was like nothing she had ever seen before. She decided it was too stern for his face. Naruto was supposed to be happy. Naruto was supposed to be energetic. But then, she realized, Naruto also had he right to be sad.

She always saw Sasuke sitting out on a dock, legs dangling as he stared into the water. This was when he had been younger. She would pass by on a road and look down, and there he would be, staring out into nothing. Or perhaps it was something. Perhaps she would never know. When he had grown older, however, she could never catch him sitting at the dock. She sometimes wondered if he even went at all. She would never ask him. She knew by now that delving into anyone's business too much, especially an Uchiha's, was never a good thing. But he would sometimes sit by himself off in a small grouping of trees, back stiff and eyes focused ahead, kunai twirling idly in his hands. She figured that was how he kept his ideas in check. That was how he had been so successful in developing the skills he needed, rather than giving attention to those things that he didn't. Namely her.

Kakashi had been similar. When she was younger, she used to think that book that he was reading contained sayings and old proverbs that he would read and ponder, because sometimes he would pause and look away, eyes staring straight ahead as if he were thinking about something. After he would close his eyes for a moment with a long breath and look back to the book. As Sakura grew older, she became wiser. She had learned that this book hadn't contained any sort of ancient advice or old sayings. In fact, she was quite shocked when she had finally pieced together what that little book was really about. But nevertheless, whenever he read this book, he would concentrate deeply, mind focused on one thing, which was so different than her own. She was jealous. She was filled with envy. She _needed_ to learn how to do this.

So one day, Sakura walked until she decided she found a peaceful spot, colorful flowers surrounding her. She sat down on the grass, crossed her legs, opened her eyes fully, and stared. Meditation, she decided, was not an easy thing. Around her was so much life, so much _energy_ buzzing around. How could she just sit through it all? After a few hours of trying to concentrate, she gave up; head hanging as she reluctantly walked the road back to her home.

Later she decided that if she couldn't stare at a garden, she would just have to plant one. Perhaps this could be her way of meditating.

So one day, in a small corner of the limited yard space that her apartment provided, she dug up some earth. Ino had given her a generous discount at the flower shop, which Sakura had been rather thankful for. The cheaper flowers were always ugly to her and looked as if they were on the verge of dying. Instantly, Sakura had been drawn to the vibrant oranges, pinks, and yellows. So she kneeled by her small garden and began digging holes. By the time the sky had turned dark, her garden had been planted and she stood from a distance, hands on her hips proudly, overlooking her colorful garden.

Needless to say, Sakura had learned that things only were kept beautiful if they were worked on.

Sure, her garden had looked great when it was planted. Everything always seemed to be a tad bit brighter in the beginning. But as the days went on, the flowers would hang their heads lower and lower until they would wither away, a wonderful memory of something that had been beautiful. She had numerous times forgotten about her garden and the flowers that depended on her to remain constant. She concluded that'd she never be able to focus. She just couldn't. It was a simple fact.

Sakura was not a focused person. She was all over the place. She was here. She was there. She was up and she was down.

She hated it.

Now as Sakura opened her eyes slowly to look at a blank wall, she realized that she was still all over the place. Even though the wall was white, she thought about red. She thought about yesterday. She thought about a couple months ago. But most importantly, she thought about today. Where had Uchiha Itachi slept? Where was the Uchiha now? And why did Uchiha Itachi do the things he did? Her first question had been answered when she rolled over, eyes scanning the other side of the bed—unmade. She jumped up, elbows supporting her. Her second question had been answered when she looked around the room and spotted him sitting at a desk, looking rather bored as he looked through her things.

Her last question, she figured, would never be answered.

She threw the covers off of her and her warm feet touched the cold ground, making her wish she had more than just the tank top hanging over her shoulders and shorts clinging to her legs. The night had proved to be very hot and humid, and in the process of trying to fall into a peaceful slumber, she had thrown some layers to the side. She kicked some pieces of clothing scattered on the floor as she made his way towards him. She figured he knew she was up, she wasn't trying to stay quiet. In fact, her heavy footsteps sounded loud and heavy.

"What are you doing?" she asked, standing a few feet from his side, staring at him incredulous. He was dressed fully, but his cloak was spread over the bed. She scanned him up and down. His long hair pilled was pulled back neatly. His posture was straight as he sat. She looked to his emotionless face. Well, at least it was supposed to be emotionless. She stared at how relaxed the corner of his mouth was. His right eyebrow was tilted slightly. He looked rather amused. So Sakura, determined to find out what was so entertaining, followed his gaze until it landed on the object of amusement.

She nearly died.

"Interesting choice in readings, medic," he said, flipping the pages of the book he found in Sakura's bag. As he flipped through, the dirty and graphic images passed by Sakura's eyes. Her cheeks, burning red, felt hot. Her head was feeling light with embarrassment and partial anger. She reached forward, attempting to snatch it away. But he was quicker. As she jumped towards the desk, she ran into it, knee hitting the edge of the desk, and hand coming down hard on the top.

"Give it back," she demanded, glaring at him.

"You seem very anxious to get it back," he replied, not looking away from her. It wasn't until she realized how very close they were, that her glare softened. She grit her teeth together and stood back, glaring at the wall ahead instead of looking at him.

"It's not mine," she answered, trying to sound disinterested.

"Oh, then whose?" he asked, red eyes scanning over the pages lazily as he flipped through the book.

Sakura paused. "A friend's."

"You must have been very _desperate_ to take it," the Uchiha continued, much to Sakura's chagrin. She crossed her arms, running her fingers along her skin contemplatively.

"I didn't take it. He let me have it."

"How generous."

"I never gave you permission to look through my things," she scolded, cursing his relaxed form as she yelled at him.

"Then it is a good thing that I did not ask for it," he replied simply, blinking at her challengingly.

She reached out for it again, but he repeated his previous action of moving it away from her reach. "Give it back, pervert," she warned.

"Pervert? Medic, I suggest you take a look at yourself before calling others names," he said, finally shutting the small book to look up at her, his face completely serious. His eyes, deep red, she realized were darker and sharper. The red was so dark that she could have considered it to be on the edge of black. On the edge of insanity. And with the counting of the pupils in his eyes, she realized, that he was looking past her. Or perhaps it was just her vivid imagination. Perhaps it was a cruel metaphor.

The mood changed drastically from teasing to serious. She reached out for the book, not taking her eyes from his own. This time he did not pull back and she packed the book away in her bag, looking away from his eyes. The eyes that had suddenly become so very different than Sasuke's. Later she would think back and conclude that they just seemed more _real_.

"I'm leaving as soon as possible," she informed him, picking her stray articles of clothing from the ground, hoisting a t-shirt over her head and around her body.

He didn't say anything, though she hadn't exactly expected him too. It was then for a couple of minutes that she kept her eyes off of Uchiha Itachi. But, she continued to _feel_ the presence of his body, acknowledging that there was someone else in this room. Instead of turning her head to him and realizing that he was in fact the eldest Uchiha, she imagined him to be the younger.

After a night of traveling, they would rest in a hotel such as this. In the morning when they woke from their dreams that would become less appealing than reality, she would fix them some tea on the small stove the hotel room supplied. She would wash the cups as the water boiled, listening as it bubbled within. Her arm muscles would flex as she would wash those cups. As Sasuke would teach her, they didn't deserve the best, but they didn't deserve dirt either. She would fix them the green tea hidden away in the back of the cupboard in the hotel, filling them to the same level, because damn it, they were equals.

She would turn to find him leaning against the door to the small, makeshift garden outside, meditating. She would smirk and walk towards him, holding the two hot mugs in her hand. But as she would walk closer to him, the mugs wouldn't feel so hot. She would feel the heat radiating from the dark haired man standing before her.

The heat _was_ radiating from the man standing before her.

When he turned, he wasn't Sasuke. He wasn't temperamental. His eyes weren't filled only with hate. His face wasn't warning her to leave him alone. But like Sasuke, his eyes were dangerous. His hair was dark and demanding. He made her head light.

He merely raised a brow, glancing down at the tea, a small stream of steam rising from the scorching liquid.

Suddenly she became cold and the mugs were, once again, scorching hot.

"I thought you were leaving," was what he said.

She nodded dumbly, throat dry. "I'm thirsty."

"Your excuses are lacking."

She nearly shoved the mug into his hands, some of the hot liquid spilling onto their hands. He pulled back slowly. She jumped from the hot contact. Her emerald eyes narrowed. His red eyes swirled.

It was then she remembered that she didn't plant any red flowers in her garden.

**X**

She stared at the greenery in front of her, the bushes and trees meshing into a sea of green. Her hands clenched together as she furrowed her eyebrows, a set determination playing across her face. The ring was gone. And as far as she was concerned, so was Uchiha Itachi. There was not a doubt that he had taken the ring from her bag when he had searched through it. She guessed it was a smart move on his part for the both of them.

She nodded as if she were reassuring herself. Direction and sense of placement was never a strongpoint of Sakura's. It was bad enough that the damned Uchiha had thrown her off course once again. Uchihas, she noticed, had a way of doing that. Itachi, she could feel, was pushing her out of her previous fenced comfort zone, the place that she had always known. And then there was Sasuke trying to push her back into step. The normal, dull life that consisted of waiting and wishing. Itachi, on the other hand, left her with a day filled with constant events and she didn't nearly have the time to wish for things. With him, she had enough on her plate. Sasuke was definitely safer. And she decided that safe was good. Just _good_.

Worse than being lost inside her own head was being lost in some forest, which led her to sling her bag over her shoulder and let it fall to the ground with a thud. She bent over and unzipped her bag, shuffling for the map she hoped she had packed. She would have to remember to scold Naruto for making her rush. The map, to her dismay, was not there and she cursed the image of it laying quietly on her coffee table with frustration. This would not make her falter she determined. She was a ninja. She was supposed to work around problems with grace and intelligence.

She snorted, about to close her bag. The back of her head itched and she looked around her bag once more for the object of renewal—the scroll that would give her back her old life. She dug deeper into the bag, pushing away the piles of clothes. Determining that it was too much of a hassle, she poured the contents out, heart feeling heavy when the scroll did not fall out.

What did, however, was a ring.

She picked it up and twirled it in her finger as she observed it.

"Shit."

**X**

She passed the man at the reception desk, ignoring his voice as he yelled at her. She took the small hallway to the room that her and the Uchiha had shared last night. The thought alone made her cringe slightly. What unnerved her even more, however, was the fact that she was coming back. The room was locked when she tried to open it and she continued to fidget with the doorknob harsher even though she knew it would do no good. Haruno Sakura was always a persistent girl and never seemed to know when to stop.

Frustrated, she could feel the adrenaline flow through her body, giving her strength to ram herself into the door, making it give way. She was met with nothing but a slap of cold air in the face. The room that had once been stuffy seemed incredibly blank and crisp as the empty room stared back at her. She could hear the silence mocking her. The man at the reception desk had caught up with her and she could hear him complain behind her, inspecting the door.

"You'll pay for any damages," he warned, running his eyes over the lock.

She turned to him, making sure her face was set enough in seriousness to make him bring his full attention to her. "Where is he?"

"Who?" the man asked quickly, maybe on instinct. Sakura, however, didn't have the patience nor the time. Her mission—her life—was on the line.

"The man I was here with last night," she clarified taking a breath. She inhaled deeply as she started to count her breaths. Frustration would get her nowhere, she was sure. And taking her anger on this man would do nothing. She would save that for the Uchiha.

"Listen," he countered, standing up to full height, the corner of his lip curling in disgust. "It's not my fault you can't keep track of your husband." He paused, shaking his head angrily. "I'm not surprised he would leave you. So annoying."

_Not surprised he would leave you._

She clenched her hands into tiny fists as she blinked slowly. The man snorted, giving her a scowl.

_So annoying._

"You don't know anything," she said as she pushed past him, not entirely knowing why she would want to justify anything to someone she barely knew. But she supposed she needed some kind of clarification. She would grab anything thrown her way.

She left with quick steps, pushing the door roughly. She ignored it when it hit her on the way out. There was something else that was more important and he was standing in front of the hotel, staring back at her. He had his straw hat on, making her figure that he had been somewhere. That was beyond the point, however, and Sakura was always a blunt woman.

"Where is it, Uchiha?" she demanded as she staked towards him, clenching the ring in her hands so tightly that it would leave an imprint once she unwound her fingers.

"I'm afraid, Medic," he said, turning to face her fully, and in turn, making her back away slightly, "you'll have to be more specific."

She lifted the ring, eyes softening as she looked into his. This time, they didn't pose so much of a threat. She must have been getting used to them. That's what she figured at least because now as she looked at them, she realized she wasn't getting sucked into his world. She wasn't lost, but at the same time, wasn't exactly found.

"Why didn't you take it?" He didn't answer. At that point, Sakura had realized how quiet it really was. It was unnerving to say the least. The silence in a way made her feel more vulnerable, as if he could just read her thoughts that she spoke loudly in her head. "You thought I'd come back?"

"I knew you'd come back," he countered and she shook her head with exhaustion, giving a cynical chuckle.

"I didn't come back for you," she informed, voice quiet as it shook with delicately laced lies.

"For the scroll then?" he asked, finally moving his hand into his cloak to pull out the scroll, crumbled from the rough treatment she had put it through. She could see the rain marks dark against the paper, staining it.

"For Konoha," she clarified even further.

"For normalcy," he continued, though it sounded more like a question.

"For my team," she said.

"For Sasuke."

Inner Sakura immerged, letting her indulge herself in a temper tantrum. She threw the ring at him and he did nothing but continue to stare at her, not even blinking as the ring hit his shoulder and landed on the ground.

"Take it," she hissed. "Take it and just give me back the scroll!"

Naruto had laughed teasingly at her when he saw Sakura's dying flowers. But she just looked at him and explained to him that she would make it work.

She had to make it work.

**X**

She followed him, all the while glaring holes into his back. She willed herself not to look at the part of his cloak that was torn. She made herself think of something other than that piece of the cloak that was now in her back pocket. She didn't allow herself to ponder on the ring that was in her hand. Rather than letting her mind drift to things she deemed unnecessary, she imagined the scroll that was hidden in his cloak.

"I can't help but find it awkward that you're following me," he said suddenly and she snorted, crossing her arms as she made her strides longer, feeling that that would give her some kind of confidence.

"Give me the scroll and I'll be on my way," she explained, trying to sound as civil as possible.

"I believe, Medic," he started, and even though she could not see his face, she had no doubt that he was smirking only slightly. She cursed all Uchihas for that smirk, "that you have failed your mission. Perhaps you should turn around and head back to your village."

"I won't," she said bluntly.

He paused in his steps, and she stepped back, afraid that she had said something wrong. But she stiffened, telling herself that she owed him nothing right when all he gave her was _wrong_. Curious, she stepped further, taking a look at his face. He was staring out onto the horizon, and from the hill they were on, she could see all that was below. And she could guess what his decision would be once her eyes landed on a lone house.

Once they had reached the house, he opened the old door and Sakura was pleased to see that it was empty. It didn't have the spook of an old, abandoned home. It was quite clean, she was happy to see. He disappeared into a room, leaving Sakura to her own thoughts. She shifted on her feet, thinking that perhaps she would have to go home and leave it at that. She looked down at the ring that she had picked up when Uchiha Itachi had just turned and left her speechless at their confrontation. What would she do with the ring? Just leave it? She could hear him make noise from the room as she twirled the ring in her hand. She found a lone table to set it on and she couldn't help but notice that it looked incredibly lonely in the dark. And as she stepped back, she realized that she herself, felt alone. Why was she leaving all of this with _nothing_? She swept the ring back into her hands, damned if she would leave without the scroll.

She stepped into the room he was in, taking in his silhouette as it crouched before the newly made fire in the fireplace. She scanned the room, noticing there were only two chairs that faced the fireplace. Clearing her throat to signalize her presence, she was angry when he didn't even turn to acknowledge her. Just like that she was brushed aside.

Not again, she told herself.

"Uchiha," she started, voice sounding monotonous as she spoke. "We can make a deal."

He said nothing so she stepped closer to him, fingers skimming along a chair that was facing the fireplace. The fabric of the chair was old and fraying, and she picked at the loose pieces nervously, eyes lingering over the red and brown stains covering the chair.

"I don't intend to bribe you into anything," he informed, standing from his crouched position to look at the fire that was engulfing every ounce of darkness within the brick fireplace.

He turned to look at her and she could have not depicted any other scene so scary. His body was completely dark against the bright fire burning behind him. What frightened her the most however, was that she could still see his red eyes stare straight at her. The pupils in his eyes swirled and she tensed, looking away.

"Don't hide. That never did you any good," Inner Sakura scolded, making Sakura lick her dry lips in preparation to speak.

"I hate you," she whispered quietly against the crackling firewood. She stared at his boot-covered feet as her fingers continued to pick at the chair. She swallowed hard.

"I believe we've been through this already," he replied, seemingly unaffected. She followed his feet with her eyes as he stepped forward, taking a seat in one of the chairs. She clenched her hands, angry that her words did not affect him in the slightest bit. In fact, he was making a mockery of her feelings. And this she would not take lightly. She reached into her back pocket. Taking the piece of cloak, she crumbled it into her fingers before throwing it into the fire. The flame was a deep pink as it engulfed the cloud, and she could feel his eyes glaring at her.

Inwardly, she grinned sadistically. That had gotten a reaction.

The air, so thick with tension, was choking both of them. And Sakura was sure that this room was hell and it was no coincidence that they both had ended up here.

"Foolish," she heard him say simply behind her.

"Fuck you," she replied, angrily turning around. "It's just a cloak." A symbol of sin, deceit, and all the evil in the world.

She tried to hide the fact that she had backed up and ran her fingers along the warm brick of the fireplace when he stood. And she stared at him hard as he stepped forward, but she kept away from his eyes, looking past his shoulder.

He stopped in front of her, pulling the scroll from his cloak. Everything was silent and for a moment, time seemed to slow down. Her eyes were not on the scroll, but on his face. His strong jaw, the tired lines running along his face, his warm, red eyes. And she stopped there, letting her eyes linger on the red. In her peripheral vision, she could see him holding the scroll over the fire.

"It's just a scroll," he said simply, lips barely moving. A symbol of loyalty, goodness, and normalcy. She made herself stand still, knowing he was challenging her. She didn't know what he was exactly trying to prove, but she be damned if she'd fall into predictably. But she couldn't will herself to stand still as the tip of the scroll caught fire. Quickly, she tore her gaze from his eyes and set them on the scroll. She reached forward. She had surprised him, she guessed, because he hadn't pulled the scroll away before she could grab it. Her hand came down upon the flame burning from the paper of the scroll.

It burned harshly, the flames biting into her flesh painfully. She pulled it towards her, but Itachi had already caught up and pulled it back. It slid from her hand quickly, giving her a paper cut along her palm. She was satisfied that the flame was gone, managing to keep the scroll from burning to a crisp.

"I hate you Uchiha Itachi," she hissed, words burning as much as her hand. One foot stepped forward and she balanced herself against the ground. He observed her as she tensed, noticing the sudden change of pace. "I fucking _hate_ your guts. I can't wait till you die. And when you do, I hope you beg like a dog because that's all you are."

The next thing she felt was a sharp pain in her head and her vision flashed red. Her brain was pounding against her skull as she looked up at him. Her lungs pleaded for some room as she gasped for air. His body pressed up against her so tightly and the wall pushing back from behind had proved to be painful.

"Do you know where we are, Medic?" he asked, and she closed her eyes, trying to ignore his stare. But it did little to nothing. She couldn't _see _it, but she could still _feel_ it. "This is the place I came to after I killed my clan, after I rid myself of everything I did not need. The stains in this room are from my family's blood. Do you understand that, Medic?"

She didn't say anything and closed her eyes tighter, trying to push the tears back.

"I saw them beg for life," he said, leaning closer so that his breath was against her ear. "Like dogs as you so nicely put it." His hand wrapped around her throat lightly, but did not squeeze roughly. She steadied her breaths, letting them flow through her nose. "After seeing how _pathetic_ they looked, I promise you I that will _never_ beg. Do you understand that, Medic?"

She didn't yell out all the things she wanted to say. She didn't tell him he was a monster, a vicious monster who didn't even deserve being born. She didn't explain to him that she did understand—understand how so insecure he was that he would so morbidly twist his family's death into a cruel test. She didn't let him know that Sasuke would become the person Itachi was _supposed _to be. And even though the brothers were so similar, Sakura was sure they were more different than anything.

It was at that point when he loosened his hold on her and she took the first second she could to take her leave. And it was at that particular moment that she decided she would _never_ feel sympathy for Uchiha Itachi. It all belonged to Sasuke.

Everything she did was for Sasuke.

Sakura had never even watered her flowers and therefore never understood the concept of overdoing it-- overfeeding something until it choked on good intentions.

**X**

"You have a death wish, Medic," was what he said when she found him in a bedroom, sitting on the bed silently and staring out a small window overlooking the hills in the valley.

"No," she corrected, lingering in the doorway. "A much simpler wish."

She heard him grunt and didn't really know how to respond to that. She let her fingers glide along the doorframe for a moment as she racked her brain of something to say. All she wanted was everything that she once had back. All she wanted were her duties and responsibilities. All she wanted was that damned scroll, and the Uchiha was reluctant to give it back.

"I'm trying to be civil," she said, gathering a deep breath of air in her lungs. Confidently or maybe idiotically, she stepped into the room, noticing how thick the air was that surrounded the both of them. "If you could please return the scroll, Uchiha, I will be on my way. I will not report anything. As far as I'm concerned, if you return the scroll, none of this had ever happened. My mission was a success and everything happened smoothly."

"Sakura," he said, turning to finally look at her. His eyes were a very deep red, and she would have mistaken them for black if she hadn't known their true color and searched for it. "You cannot change the past, nor can you pretend it didn't happen."

He lifted himself from the bed and Sakura tensed, preparing herself for the worst that didn't come. He stalked closer to her, but she dared not move—as if she were a deer caught in headlights. Her head was feeling light and her vision tunneled in slightly. Everything was in a sort of haze and she wondered if he had finally taken her into his world. The moonlight from the window poured straight onto his face as he looked down at her. He was so close that she could feel his breath fan past her face. She looked at his eyes—those damned Uchiha eyes. She looked at them and noticed that she hated them. She looked at them and realized she _loved_ them.

But they were not the same. They were different. Everything, for a second, was different.

"Your eyes," she whispered, pondering aloud. She lifted her hand to hover them before his eyes, but realized what she was doing and stopped herself before her hand could even reach above his shoulder.

"I suppose you know the effects of the Sharingan," he simply said, unblinking.

She nodded and swallowed. She didn't dare blink, thinking she would lose this moment if she did. And she said the next statement as plain as day, finally putting out the inevitable. "You're blind."

"I soon will be," he simply corrected, seemingly disinterested.

Then there was silence. Her eyes scanned over his face, wondering why he was not feeling any sort of sadness or disappointment. She didn't know how he could not feel _anything_ even though his life was disappearing from sight. Literally. But then her mind jumped to what she thought was really the point of everything that had happened concerning her and the Uchiha over the past days. And she figured the scroll was his way of bribing her. And she was mad.

"I will not help you," she said through clenched teeth, shaking her head. "I will not betray my village and my friends. I will not betray Sasuke."

He merely turned away from her, appearing nonchalant. "As I had guessed."

She left the room quickly, trying hard not to look back.

**X**

That night she had found another small bedroom tucked into the corner of the small house. She listened closely as she heard him leave the house, hoping he would not come back. A part of her wished to never see his face again. But still, there was that once lurch in her stomach whenever she thought about those eyes. She told herself that she was missing Sasuke and that this feeling was not new. It had happened before.

But that was a lie. None of this happened before. It simply terrified her.

There was the part of her that wondered if she would hear his footsteps when she awoke. She was still determined to get the scroll back and finish the mission. She was still set to do things right, to get back into the swing of things.

Sakura noticed that her mind was still a big jumble of a mess as she thought back and forth about Sasuke and his elder brother, about loyalty and love. These thoughts would simply not leave her alone.

And then it had hit her. She finally realized that she had all along been meditating. Her way of thinking every night was her way of self-evaluating the events of the day. Her ponderings were her way of setting her mind on something and not letting it go. And then she sulked further into the old bed. Apparently, meditation was not the secret to being strong.

Sakura's garden had been big, bold, and beautiful. Needless to say, it had died a mess. Perhaps if she could dig out the unnecessary flowers, it would wither away more gracefully.

That night Haruno Sakura decided she would never plant a garden again and meditation was certainly not her thing.

**X**

**X**

* * *

Chapter Preview:

"Medic, I'm sure you know that when a person begins to lose his sight, his other senses are heightened," he simply responded, seemingly unnerved by her insults.

She nodded. "I should know that. I wouldn't call myself anything close to a medic if I didn't."

"Then you should know that this can be a good thing," he continued. She nodded and shrugged, regarding this as common sense. "But it's also a bad thing."

"How so, Uchiha?"

"There are a lot of unpleasant sounds you are forced to pay attention to," he explained, brushing past her to take a relaxed seat at the kitchen table. "That's why I must ask you to stop talking."

**A/N: Thanks for reading. Any feedback?**


	4. day four

**The Calling**

by **stones**

* * *

**Day Four**

On the fourth day, she was just there. There wasn't necessarily a feeling that fluttered through her. Actually, there was none at all.

The room was bright with morning sunlight when her eyes slowly opened to reality. She couldn't help but feel disappointed when she realized that she hadn't dreamt or maybe just didn't remember them. There was always something mysterious, something _happy_ about that special place where one could drift off and build a world all their own. And she felt she desperately needed that, for the life she was living now was not one that she wanted.

She rolled over onto her side, pushing the blankets away from her. The room was humid and everything stuck to her irritatingly, making sure that she wouldn't forget her surroundings. As she closed her eyes and sighed deeply, she searched for any strong chakra—not sure how to feel when she caught one. The fact that she so comfortably shared the area with the deadly Uchiha was beyond ludicrous, and not taking off yesterday when she had the chance was even stupider on her part.

He hadn't killed her yet, or even attacked. The first night hadn't counted; she had started it after all. She didn't quite feel that her life was at jeopardy and again, it was stupid of her to feel so comfortably around this S-class criminal. Soon she'd be having teatime with him. She groaned when she realized that that had already sort of happened. She figured she could rest up for today and move slowly. The road back to Konoha would be a long one, and the weight of failure would be heavier than ever.

There were no emotions as she surveyed her surrounding and she didn't quite know what to say when her eyes landed on the scroll, silently waiting on the nightstand beside the bed.

A man once told Haruno Sakura that the great men of the past where staring down at her, looking over everything she did. Apart from showering in a bathing suit for a couple years, young Sakura pouted her lower lip, put a finger to her chin, and asked, "Where did all the great women go?"

Tsunade had answered that question one day, saying, "Forget those old farts." Sakura watched as her mentor plopped in her chair, sighing loudly. She opened a drawer and dug her hand in it, Sakura already knowing what she was looking for and was not surprised when the bottle of sake appeared. "What do they know? They're dead."

"They look over us," Sakura reminded, continuing to file the papers her lazy mentor had given to her. Tsunade shrugged as she poured herself a class, letting it linger by her lips.

"That's all they do," the Hokage responded, taking a gulp. "But the great women, they got the better deal in the end."

Sakura looked up from the papers. "And what's that?"

"They're in your heart," Tsunade whispered, pouring herself another glass. "Guiding you."

Sakura nodded slowly as she stared at the Hokage, who at the moment seemed incredibly different to her. Her lips were not curved in an annoyed frown, nor were her eyes in a deadly stare. Her eyebrows were lifted slightly and her lips parted as she breathed slowly. Sakura smiled.

"What makes a person great?" Sakura asked, tearing her gaze from her mentor.

"A person is great if they can change the world," her mentor answered.

Sakura liked that.

She was determined to become a great woman. After all, Sasuke needed _someone_ in his heart to take his hand and walk that long, bumpy road alongside of him, whether he felt her presence or not.

She would be there and that would be all that mattered.

**X**

She made her way through the narrow hallway, walking towards the kitchen. It was just her and the clothes on her back, bag and scroll left behind in the room. She had fashioned herself some socks and for a second she had hoped she could surprise the Uchiha, but as she entered the kitchen with a loud entrance, pushing the door open, he seemed more annoyed than anything. She glared at his back as if he could see her, trying to figure out why he would relax at the small kitchen table, apple in hand.

She walked further into the kitchen, making her way to the gas stove. She lit the gas, slightly disappointed when the fire would not light. And a part of her felt at home, her stove at her apartment was just the same. She opened the drawers around her, snatching the box of matches when she had spotted them. Lightling the small stick, she stuck it into the gas and pulled back when the gas had lit. She filled the small, rusted teakettle with cold water and settled it upon the old iron stove. She looked over her shoulder at the man sitting at the table, who was now close to finishing his apple.

"Can't even let him kill you fully can you?" she asked, opening cabinets roughly as she searched for teabags, letting them slam as she closed them. "He's going to be pretty mad when he finds out."

The Uchiha said nothing, angering her. What right did he have to be smug?

"You always have to have the last word, don't you?" she asked, turning to look at him full on. He didn't even move, but proceeded to take a bite of his apple.

"I don't believe I said anything," he replied smartly, making the pink-haired medic roll her eyes and turn back to the kitchen cabinets.

"You know what I mean," she grumbled, inwardly smirking when she found a small box of teabags. She sniffed them, happy to find out that they smelt like raspberries. The tattered, dirty box they were in had given her an indication that they had not been touched for a long time. She looked over her shoulder to glance at him. That meant he had never stuck around here for too long.

"Where do you go?" she asked, turning the flame off when the kettle had started to whistle loudly, wakening them both into what was really going on. She heard a chair rasp against the floor and she turned, already on her toes. But he had just stood, apple core in hand, staring at her. She looked at his eyes. They had gotten darker.

"You'd be surprised, Medic, how many cowards come after you when you're at a disadvantage," he simply replied. "It wouldn't be wise to stick around somewhere for too long."

She snorted, fishing out two mugs of coffee. Perhaps his handicap had given her this confidence, perhaps the gods had decided to boost her moral, but she spoke to him openly. "Cowards? You're the one running."

"I wouldn't call it running, Sakura," he said, an edge of mockery in his voice. She plopped teabags into the two mugs and followed them by boiling water. "If they come for me, I have no choice but to finish what they try to start. If they are persistant then they're dead before they can even call for their mothers. I call it saving myself for a just death." She glanced over the mugs, lifting her hands over the steam as she had done so many times before.

"There is no such thing for someone like you," she responded, words sharp as they left her lips. She felt a push behind her back and her hands went down, bumping against the mugs, spilling hot water over her hands and her burn that she had received the night before. She immediately hissed, pushing back but was met with something solid. His lips were next to her ear and suddenly she had become so aware of surroundings- the water dripping from the sink, the window cracked open only slightly to allow some fresh air in the room, the fly on the ceiling, the Uchiha right behind her, and most of all his arms around her waist.

"I thought that yesterday you had learned that there are no more chains to bind me," he said monotonously into her ear, breath dancing along her skin. She shook her head, perhaps trying to shake everything off of her, and pushed against him. His hold tightened as his voice grew deeper. "Do you remember, Medic, when you had asked me what I would do if you were to cross the lines I had drawn?" he continued. "Would you like me to show you?'

"No," she hissed, pulling her elbow forward before sending it back. He had calculated the move and let her go, sidestepping the small attack easily.

Then they had both turned to look at each other and they were so close yet so far. The heat from the tea was fluttering against their skin and the warmth from their breaths were fanning each other's faces. Their eyes met.

"Why are you still here?" he asked, lips barely moving.

She shrugged, turning to look at the tea. "I'm thirsty." She didn't look as he turned to leave the room, speaking as he left.

"Your excuses are lacking."

**X**

"That's why I was able to leave a mark," she announced when she had encountered him again in the kitchen. He had just come from the outside, a kunai in hand. Training while going blind was plainly stupid to her. Anything she could find to annoy her would have to be used. Such a peaceful coexistence with this certain Uchiha was not supposed to be normal or comfortable. "Did you miss all your targets?"

"Medic, I'm sure you know that when a person begins to lose his sight, their other senses are heightened," he simply responding, seemingly unnerved by her insults.

She nodded. "I should know that. I wouldn't call myself anything close to a medic if I didn't."

"Then you should know that this can be a good thing," he continued. She nodded and shrugged, regarding this as common sense. "But it's also a bad thing."

"How so, Uchiha?"

"There are a lot of unpleasant sounds you are forced to pay attention to," he explained, brushing past her to take a relaxed seat at the kitchen table. "That's why I must as you to stop talking."

"Asshole," Inner Sakura said with a nasty glare. Externally, however, she merely looked away, not completely interested in arguing further with the Uchiha and perhaps starting unnecessary fights. She must not completely forget herself like she had done not too long ago.

This man in front of her was not a nice man, no matter how good his looks told her otherwise. This man had killed innocents, even his own family. This fact alone screamed at her to turn tail and run. What was she doing—so stupidly floating about him-- was crazy. It was worse that she was in the near vicinity of him, let alone willingly. The scroll. She could just imagine it right now, sitting in the room she had taken. It was patiently waiting for her to complete the mission successfully only to return home to Konoha. Why wasn't she taking what she had fought for?

It was important to remember that this man was not Sasuke, and she knew subconsciously that their clear similarities were the only reason she was still standing in the same room as him.

It was only when she had seen in the corner of her eye the Uchiha grab the edges of his shirt that she brought her attention fully to him. Her mouth trembled with lost words as he lifted his shirt from him, seemingly disinterested. She, however, was not. Blushing furiously, she looked away. This was juvenile—of course she knew this. The fact remained that she was a teenage girl. But then she shot her head back up, perplexed on what exactly was going on.

She found it incredibly odd to say the least—the sudden removal of clothing. Just what was he planning on doing?

"W-What are you-"

"It's hot," he replied, sounding casual as can be.

Sakura nodded, noticing his skin was slick with sweat. The humidity hadn't ceased and her own forehead was beaded with tiny drops though she hadn't even done much movement. She dared not drag her eyes over him any longer than a quick scan.

"Men are lucky," she started awkwardly, throat dry. She turned and started to pick at things on the counter of the kitchen, trying to add some comfort into the whole situation. He didn't ask her to elaborate, but she did nevertheless. "For being to take of your shirt so freely."

She couldn't help but turn and give an incredulous look at the next set of words that left his mouth. "No one is stopping you, Medic. I wouldn't mind it."

And she certainly didn't mind his state either. Now that she had turned around, she finally had given into that silly juvenile temptation and she looked him up and down, hoping that his blindness would not allow him the satisfaction of seeing her flustered face. With his teasing, the mood had certainly lightened. This was the game that they had always played. For it was up and down, side to side with the Haruno and Uchiha. It was here and it was there. It was never boring. They kept each other on their toes, ready for anything.

He was taller than Sasuke, maybe even leaner. Everything that Sasuke had in aggression, Itachi had in grace. What Sasuke had in arrogance, Itachi had in confidence. And maybe if Sakura could try hard enough, she could still mix the two, for she wouldn't allow herself to think that she was taking the pleasure of checking out the elder Uchiha. No, her mind was still on Sasuke. At least she hoped it was.

"What are you still doing here?" he asked and Sakura looked up into his eyes. Those distant, distant eyes.

"I thought you wanted to play house, Uchiha," she replied, a small smile on her lips.

He did not simply tell her that her excuses were lacking. He did not send her threatening thoughts. He countered this smile with a slight smirk and said, "I think I prefer doctor."

**X**

She figured she had wakened late in the evening by the darkness outside of the window. She had planned on relaxing and figured that it would not be a hard chore to accomplish. With the Uchiha disappearing to do heavens knows what and the calm enchantment of the house, her eyes would succumbed to sleep in no time. But as she lay in that old bed, creaking every time she moved, she couldn't help but realize that her body would not let her rest. Everything was telling her to move, to do something.

She stood from the bed, grabbing her bag from the ground and scroll from the nightstand. She stuffed her things into the bag, not caring if the scroll was getting bent. In the midst of packing her things, something had fallen out. Without giving it a second thought, she picked up the small trinket in her hand, pausing when she felt its shape. She opened her hand and let it lay on her palm. She couldn't believe what she was seeing when the ring in her hand flashed.

Anger rose in her. Just what was this ring demanding her to do? And why couldn't it just leave her alone? A part of her knew she had encouraged it for she could have thrown it away at the start. She dropped the ring when she heard a large crash further into the house. On instinct, she dug her hand into her bag, trying to look for the extra kunai she kept in there just in case. Desperately her hand went back and forth threw her things, but they had landed on nothing that could do damage. Slowly, she withdrew her hand. She would have to rely on her strength. She smiled confidently. Good.

She tiptoed into the hallway, keeping her ears open and senses akin to everything around her. The connection she had made with her senses were so deep that she could nearly _see_ whatever was going on in the kitchen. Whoever—or whatever—it was didn't seem to be trying to keep its entrance quiet. Some pots and pans clanged against each other and her ears drummed loudly, the sound so loud against the pitch-black silence. She pressed her ear against the kitchen door, feeling a bit of ease when she had noticed that familiar chakra—but one could never be too sure. She creaked the door open slightly, the light in the kitchen blinding her for a second. Her eyes readjusted to the light and she could see a figure clad in back in the corner of the room, leaning against the wall. Her eyes caught the red clouds and she opened the door without hesitation.

She paused in the doorway, taking in the scene before her. Uchiha Itachi was standing in the corner of the room, bracing himself against the wall. His cheeks were dirty, stained with mud and dirt. She couldn't access the damage fully with his cloak wrapped around him. She stepped forward, medic instincts kicking in.

"Leave already," he hissed at her, looking up. He was looking past her, it was clear to see. And even though his glare was so terrifying and his body was shaking with anger, she could see the pain behind his eyes that could no longer see much of anything. She had caught him in a vulnerable state, one she was sure he was not comfortable in. She had rarely seen any emotion in this man, but the pure look of hate scrunched into every wrinkle was so distinct that she wanted to back away with fear.

"No," she whispered back pathetically, continuing into the room. She was foolish, maybe, but she couldn't abandon the vow that she had made to save those who were so close to facing death. And she couldn't let him go that easily. No, his death had already been planned and she _had_ to make sure that it would happen. Because Sasuke would be the one to watch Itachi die, not her.

He tried to push her away with his body as she neared him and had managed in making her stumble backward, but she lifted her hands and pushed him back. He gave a small cough, blood dripping from his mouth, as his back hit the wall behind him. She barely had time to register as his hands shot forward wildly. His lack of vision had sent them in any direction and she yelled out as his right hand clutched her clothing and his left came down upon her cheek. She hit the wall as he pushed her. He was so close, so close that she could smell the copper from the blood running down his chin. As he hissed at her, the blood sputtered and she closed her eyes, scared of the image in front of her.

She knew that he must have sensed her as a threat in such a position. So easily she would be able to kill him in his state. So much easier could he have killed her in her state. But instead she heard him warn her again to leave.

She opened her eyes, burning tears brimming the edges. He looked like Death himself. The image of pure beauty in darkness. She shook her head, voice cracking as she spoke. "No."

He slumped against her and shut his eyes. She lightly pushed him forward back onto the spot he had been leaning against and he slumped against it, breathing in heavily. She lowered him down, taking his cloak off in the process. It fell with a bloody heap. Her hands clutched at the top of his shirt, ripping it off quickly. His head was bobbing up and down with fatigue and signs of exhaustion and his eyelids seemed heavy. Calculating every symptom, she figured out what had happened before she had even looked at the wound on his chest. Stabbed in the aorta and losing blood quickly.

He was nearly unconscious as she pulled at his legs, pulling him forward until he was fully lying on his back. Her breathing was heavy as bile rose in her throat. She gagged at the foul smell. Quickly, she stood to her feet, retrieving a washcloth to wash the blood away to begin. She had done this kind of surgery before but it had always been with supervision. As she crouched down and pressed the wet cloth against the wound, she figured now was a good time as any to test her skills as a medic.

She breathed in deeply and sent her chakra to her hands. It was going to be a long night.

**X**

She figured it couldn't get any worse as thunder cracked again. The candles in her hand were yellow with rot and dusty a she fumbled to pull a match from the box.

"Damn electricity," she cursed under her breath as her fingers shook lightly from fear and anticipation. She tried to hide this fact and justify the shivers, telling herself that it was cold. In reality, she could feel the sweat run down the side of her face as the humid air surrounded her. She stood the candle upright on the small kitchen table and lit it, happy that there was finally some light in the room. Lighting flashed across the sky as she looked out the tiny window and she wrapped her arms around herself, looking to her patient still laid out across the floor.

She walked towards him and crouched at his still form. Again she reached her hand out to grab his wrist and check his pulse, satisfied that his heart was still beating. It was incredibly light and faint, but it was enough to keep him alive. It had been a challenge to even do that. Her eyes were puffed with sleepiness and her body shook, pleading for some rest. Her chakra was incredibly low. Anymore exertion and she herself would be a goner, or else she'd still be working. She studied his face in the candlelight as the shadows bounced on his face. He looked incredibly peaceful as his body rose and fell from his shallow breathing. His face was emotionless as usual, but there was something different about it. Something real. Without realizing what she was doing, she reached a hand out and brushed the stray pieces of hair off his face, running her fingers along the tired lines on his cheeks. Her fingers traced down to his chin where the blood had dried from when it flowed from his mouth with every cough and heave.

The thunder cracked and she pulled back with a jump, almost as if she had been burned by him. But perhaps she had. Her hand still throbbed painfully since she had not gotten around to healing the burn she had gotten. She looked to her hand, clenching her eyes shut when thunder cracked yet again.

Then she jumped from something other than the terrible weather. It was a voice. It was his. "You're scared."

She opened her eyes slowly to see his barely open. They were even darker than before and she smiled, laughing a relieved, dry chuckle. He was awake and talking, still under critical condition. "You're nuts."

"I can feel it," he continued, ignoring her comment.

Her smile faded into a serious set of thin lips and she shifted to sit fully on the ground, glancing at the dark stains of blood on the wall from where his back had landed and been dragged across. Only Sasuke's blood was left to taint this house. "What can you see?" she asked, slowly trailing her eyes back to him.

He paused at this and blinked slowly, opening his eyes though it would do little to no good. "Lights," he had answered after a few moments of silence. "Colors." She saw his eyes shift towards her and she waited. For what she did not know. But she saw him smirk. It was tiny, barely noticeable, but she knew it was there. "Pink."

She laughed, feeling something wet on her cheek. His eyes started to close and Sakura inched closer to him, grabbing his cold, clammy hand into her own burnt one.

"Does it hurt?" she asked softly.

"No," he answered, snorting lightly. "It feels great."

She shook her head at his sarcasm. "What happened?" she inquired curiously, again reaching for his wrist to count his pulse. She kept his eyes on his however, noticing that they were on the verge of black, the red barely visible anymore.

"Ambush," he replied simply. She paused, the tension heavy in the air as she felt the anger radiating through him. "They got what they deserved." She inhaled deeply and nodded nervously. "I suppose you think I did too?"

She then began to shake her head. "I don't even know what to think about you anymore." His head moved slightly, giving her a curt nod. She thought that perhaps he understood. Perhaps none of these last days made sense or maybe they did; the reasons unknown to her. But at least they were in the same position. Or at least that was what she figured.

The future was dark, the road ahead cloudy. She knew she would make it to see the next day, but she didn't know if Itachi would or wouldn't. But she squeezed his hand and laughed, the tears coming more freely now.

"Don't you be looking down at me if you die tonight," she teased.

His eyes closed slowly.

She laid down next to Uchiha Itachi, making sure not to lie to close. Perhaps she had felt something today. Perhaps she just didn't know how to describe it or how to name it. Perhaps she was just so confused that simply saying she felt nothing was the easy way to go. She glanced at Itachi, finally gaining some understanding of him.

That night she stared up at the ceiling, glaring at the men above. She figured she would need some practice if Uchiha Itachi should leave the world on this night.

**X**

**X**

* * *

Chapter Preview:

She stared at her hands, the hands meant to heal, the hands meant to cure. The hands meant to _save_. As she looked at them, she realized they were foreign to her. She watched as each finger twitched, the veins inside her hand moving as they did so. They were dry, rough. The burn on her palm was a sharp reminder of the Happenings. The paper cut would not scar, but she would always be able to run a finger along where it was.

One cannot forget such things.

She turned her hand over and bent them, the knuckles bony and protruding. They were not weak. Every inch of her skin told a different story, every callus told a different hardship. The last time she could ever remember her hands being soft as a baby's bottom was a few days after Sasuke had left. She could remember the image of her sitting on her bed, eyes running along her hands. Hands that were meant to touch. Hands that were meant to feel. Hands that were meant to _hold_.

And now she dropped her hands at her sides and looked ahead, feeling guilty. Her hands were strong, but they were not strong enough. Her loyalty was secure, but not secure enough. Because in the back of her mind, she could not help but think: what would Sasuke say if he saw this?

She turned to look at him at the man lying still beside her. She lifted her hands back into view.

These hands were _supposed_ to save.

**A/N: Thanks again for reading! Special thanks for those who take the time to review.**


	5. day five

**The Calling**

by **stones**

* * *

**Day Five**

On the fifth day, she woke up to a darker world.

She woke up to the musky, moldy sent of the small kitchen, window fully opened to allow the heavy, humid air in. The sun was noticeably bright, signalizing it must have been somewhere around noon. Her exhaustion caused the long sleep, though she was satisfied that most of her chakra had been recovered. Her eyes moved slowly. Everything was murky.

It must have been some kind of trance, she figured. She could see the cloudy air in the room and her glazed eyes must have doubled this effect. The candles she had lit last night were already burned through and there was nothing left but a mess of wax and a charred wick. She flexed her fingers, palms flat against the ground, and felt the smooth tile. She lifted her body slowly, arms shaking as she did so.

She pulled herself into a sitting position, finally taking a deep breath to gather everything together. Finally remembering the reasons why she had woken up on the floor of this kitchen, she turned her head slowly, perhaps fearing what she would see.

The Uchiha's eyes were still closed. He had not moved.

**X**

Sasuke and Naruto were sparring once again.

Young Sakura stood a short distance away, careful not to get in the way. She rotated on the balls of her feet, waiting for it to end. _Patience, patience_, she would repeat in her head. Everyone had always told her wait for something, and the reward would be greater. But why did she get the feeling that this would never end?

She heard her teacher behind her and she turned to see him staring at his book, but she knew he acknowledged her presence nonetheless. He perked his head up and nodded over to the two boys and Sakura looked over, noticing Naruto's serious frown and Sasuke's swarm of confidence.

"Why don't you go join them?" her teacher asked, and she turned back to him, giving him a look. Because he would _never_ understand.

"I'm not good enough to fight them," she replied, pointing it out as the inevitable, though part of her tried hard to not believe these words.

"That's why you need to practice," he continued, "_with them_."

She looked away from her teacher and back to her two teammates, moving so quickly that she could hardly keep up with her eyes. She didn't even want to imagine the immense shame she would feel had she tried to join in. Sasuke would just give her an annoyed glance, wondering why she found it necessary to interrupt. Naruto, she knew, would encourage her with a big smile and a pat on the back, but they both knew when it came down to combat, he would brush through it easily, going overly easy on her. It was best to stay out of it rather than feel the sting of weakness.

"If you don't want to fight," her teacher continued, much to her displeasure, "you should try something else."

She looked away from her two teammates, but did not turn to face her teacher's gaze. She rubbed her foot against the ground idly, dirt rising up. Her teacher wasn't one for words, she knew this. There were no harsh intentions behind his words, though it really didn't feel like it. The things he said made him seem displeased, ashamed. She played with her fingers, trying to distract herself by glancing about at the shrubbery around them.

But the copy-nin continued. "Idle hands are the devil's playthings."

She looked to her hands for a few seconds before dropping them to her sides and excusing herself. She walked away from her team. They didn't seem to notice.

A few days later, Naruto had hurt himself training. It was light-- just a simple cut on his arm. After she had congratulated Sasuke on his determination in training today, she made her way to Naruto who sat by a tree, more or less glaring towards the dark-haired boy. Sakura crouched down next to him, mumbling encouraging words to him too.

"Thank you, Sakura," he replied sincerely, smiling wide. She nodded shyly, surprised at his sincere thank you, one that she had never received from Sasuke. "You did good too." She figured he had just said this to lift her spirits, and she admitted that it slightly had. She could hear Sasuke behind her, standing over her to look at Naruto. How desperately she would have loved to hear those words come from the boy behind her. She noticed Naruto wipe away the blood dripping from the small cut on his arm dismissively as he began to get up, Sasuke also turning away.

But she reached out and caught Naruto by the wrist, stopping him in a crouch. Even Sasuke behind her stopped. Wordlessly, she pulled him down and he complied, taking a seat once again. She reached out to her bag nearby, pulling it towards her. Silently, she pulled out a small first-aid-kit. She figured with these two on her team, one couldn't be too sure.

"Why do you have that?" Sasuke asked behind her.

She blushed slightly, noticing that the notion of her bringing this small box filled with bandages and ointments was unnecessary and to put it simply, stupid, to the Uchiha.

"I figured I'd need it," she replied, wiping away the blood on Naruto's arm with a wet napkin. "You never know."

She placed a bandage cautiously over the cut and backed up, surveying her small amount of work. Naruto gave her a thumbs up, saying, "You're good at this, Sakura!"

"It's just a bandage, Naruto," she replied modestly, gathering her bag to herself as she stood. Naruto stood up next to her, raising his shoulders.

"Not just that," Naruto clarified, shaking his head. "Helping people I mean. You're good at that!"

She smiled fully, the attention new. Excited, she turned to see the reaction of her crush, but when she fully turned, she saw that he was not there.

Since then, Sakura had always carried around books with her—ranging from information to simple infections to different types of bones and tendons. Naruto teased her, calling her a pink bookworm. Sasuke didn't seem to notice as he threw his kunai at a target. Kakashi asked what brought this on.

And she answered with a smile, "Idle hands are the devil's plaything."

Kakashi just gave her a knowing nod.

**X**

Within a second, Sakura had lunged herself forward, falling into a sitting position on her shins. Her hand shot out and she pressed her fingers against his neck, feeling for his pulse. She must have been too panic-stricken she guessed, because she could not feel anything as her hand and fingers shook. Without wasting another second, she laid her head against his chest, hands still shaking, causing her whole body to tense.

She could not hear a beating heart, she could not hear those damned breaths. But she was much too tense to do much of anything. Letting a desperate breath from her lungs, she inhaled deeply in an attempt to calm her nerves. Setting her lips into a thin line, she leaned her head on his chest again and shut her eyes, holding her breath. It was silent and she tried to shut everything out. The humid air, the bright sun, the image of Naruto and Sasuke sparring, her shaking hands, _everything_. And there it was, just her and the darkness.

She listened closely, careful not to lose her cool. Swallowing, she listened more attentively until she could hear a small thump and could feel her head rise slightly. She threw herself back, relieved beyond all belief. The thought was ludicrous—her extreme happiness because Uchiha Itachi was still alive.

Suffering from shock, she pulled her legs to herself and put a hand over her open mouth, agape in surprise. She sat there disbelievingly for a few seconds, her eyes never leaving the Uchiha. And once in a while, she thought she had just imagined the whole thing, because his breaths were so shallow that she could hardly see him breathing. She would forget herself, until she calmed herself once again and noticed the slow rise and fall of his chest.

A million thoughts rushed through her head. Slowly, almost as if the Uchiha would simply snap at any given moment, she pressed a hand against his cheek lightly, tracing it up to his forehead to wipe away the sweat, also noting his fever.

She sent her chakra to her hands and already she could feel them tingling with nerves. She lowered her hands to his chest and gathered a deep breath, preparing herself for another rigorous session of healing. But as she was about to start, she could sense him stirring. She looked to his face, noticing his eyelids slowly lifting. And for a moment, the whole world around them seemed to stop, because every single thought, every single sense Sakura had was put directly on the Uchiha.

Sakura had opened her eyes to a darker world because Itachi opened his eyes to see nothing but black.

**X**

She nearly fell backwards from exhaustion.

Her chakra was extremely low, and she barely found the energy to lay herself down slowly on the cool tile, an oasis from the warm air. She landed with a thump next to the Uchiha, who was breathing much more steadily, coming to a recovery at an alarming fast pace. Slowly, she curled her knees to her, an attempt to find some comfort in a place where ease could never be found. Her nerves were still running high, and everything was happening so fast that she felt herself unable to keep up. Her thoughts only fueled this.

She thought back to what had happened only a couple hours ago, though she could recall it so precisely, that it was as if it had just occurred. He had opened his eyes and they both knew right away that suddenly everything had changed. There have been such occurrences before, events that she knew would impact her life forever, but this, this could be called extreme. She knew right away that this was different, because one of the first things she could think of was the place that she had been put in.

It was simple, really. She had inevitably been given a choice: heal the Uchiha's eyes or let him run blind.

She knew that she should have come to the latter conclusion right away. But like so many times before in the past few days, this was just _different_. This could not be dealt with normally. There was no black, there was no white. There wasn't even a gray. The world was filled with colors—colors and choices. Colors and loyalty. Colors and morals. Colors and emotions. And all at once they had so suddenly become vibrant, and Sakura found herself blinded by all of this. She had never seen this before. She was simply confused.

She stared at her hands, the hands meant to heal, the hands meant to cure. The hands meant to _save_. As she looked at them, she realized they were foreign to her. She watched as each finger twitched, the veins inside her hand moving as they did so. They were dry, rough. The burn on her palm a sharp reminder of the Happenings. The paper cut would not scar, but she would always be able to run a finger along where it had been.

One cannot forget such things.

She turned her hand over and bent them, the knuckles bony and protruding. They were not weak. Every inch of her skin told a different story, every callus told a different hardship. The last time she could ever remember her hands being soft as a baby's bottom was a few days after Sasuke had left. She could remember as she sat on her bed, eyes running along her hands. Hands that were meant to touch. Hands that were meant to feel. Hands that were meant to _hold_.

And now she dropped her hands at her sides and looked ahead, feeling guilty. Her hands were strong, but they were not strong enough. Her loyalty was secure, but not secure enough. Because in the back of her mind, she could not help but think: what would Sasuke say if he saw this?

She turned to look at him at the man lying still. She lifted her hands back into view.

These hands were _supposed_ to save.

In an attempt to soothe herself, she closed her heavy eyes. Just for a second, she thought. But the seconds had turned to minutes, and the minutes had turned to hours until her ears had picked up the light sound of rustling, and immediately her eyes opened. The Uchiha was struggling to lift himself quite frantically, and was now leaning against his elbows.

He must have been so wrapped up in his new predicament that he had completely forgotten to feel around for chakra, for when Sakura moved, he became alert instantly and tensed. Sakura felt the temperature drop, but she figured it was just her imagination. She froze, hand held out to him. He looked distrusting, alert, and dangerous. She figured he must have noticed the familiar chakra, because she could see his jaw unclench, but still, they treaded tense waters.

"What have you done?" was the first thing he said, and she sat up straight, becoming defensive.

With anger towards his words, towards the position she was put it, towards _everything_, she hissed, "What have I done? I've spared your pathetic life."

"My eyesight-"

"Has not been tampered with by me," she concluded for him, and he became obviously angered by her blunt interruption and somewhat mocking tone. "If there's anyone to blame, it's yourself."

She studied him, thankful he couldn't see her face that would have given away her fear and sadness despite her biting words. The way he looked, so tense, so downright _vulnerable_ was heart-wrenching. He was angry, one could tell, and probably didn't remember anything that had happened late last night. The thought that he probably didn't even know where he was or who was around greatly added to his frustration. Waking up blind… Sakura didn't even want to the think about the emotional stress he was in.

"Where are we?" he asked in a demanding tone.

"The house," she replied, cursing herself for giving this damned place such a casual name. "The kitchen."

He paused, shoulders slumping only slightly. She breathed deeply at the sign that he was beginning to relax. "I told you to leave."

She furrowed her brows, appalled. "If I left you would have been dead, ungrateful ass."

She supposed he expected this from her because he did not move at all. Not even the twitch of an eye. But he did open his mouth slightly, saying, "Then leave now."

And she froze. She should leave. She knew this very well. Even the Uchiha himself was telling her to hit the road already. Her brain was telling her to go, but her muscles would not move. She shook her head though he could not see it. She spoke, saying, "Lay down. You'll ruin all my work if you continue moving around."

Still on edge, Itachi only slightly lowered, slowly blinking. Sakura continued to look at him, not knowing that he could in fact feel her gaze on him. It would be a lie to say that it didn't unnerve him. He really had no idea what kind of look he was giving her which had always given him an advantage because needless to say, Sakura was the kind of girl to wear her emotions on her sleeve.

Years ago Uchiha Itachi had learned to trust no one, and this he would never forget.

Her mood swings were dangerous. He figured she didn't even know why she did some of the things she did. If there was anything he had learned from her was that she reacted on emotions rather than rationality. This was dangerous.

He must not forget that this girl, a Leaf, had been on the same team as his brother. The same brother that she held so highly. The same brother that had simply devoted his entire life to murder him. Perhaps she had healed him only to call upon his little brother. He grit his teeth at the thought. Perhaps she herself would take upon the trouble and do it herself. He pressed his fingers into his palms as he rolled his hands into fists. Blind or not, Uchiha Itachi did not come out on the bottom. He could feel her presence beside him, her chakra low, but not as low as his. He flexed his fingers. Hand combat it was.

She had no time to process all that was happening as Uchiha Itachi suddenly lunged at her, no doubt trying to take a hold of her head. Once he had her in that hold, she knew that her life stood on a thin wire, and with the slight movement of his arms, her neck would snap and she would fall lifeless. Being of small stature seemed to help her as she wriggled out of her spot underneath him and pushed herself back, landing backwards on her butt. He looked up and it was terrifying.

Those red eyes had without a doubt scared her. But these eyes were as black as night, lifeless, and incredibly dull. There was an eerie sense that she caught from them and the Uchiha had almost seemed possessed as he paused in his hands and knees. She saw his hand shoot out, catching her ankle. Desperately she tried to kick away, backing up as best as she could as her palms rubbed against the tile, the burn on her hand pinching in pain. She yelled out, crying out for him to stop, though the words were blurred into simple shouts.

His grip was hard against her ankle and she could not move her foot from it. Slowly, he pulled himself upward until he towered over her and she had fallen onto her back. Like a deer in headlights, she stared at him, wondering if fate had finally found it necessarily to get rid of her. Her chakra was low, too low. Any amount of exertion and she would have killed herself. The possibility struck her and she couldn't help but wonder if that was the way to go. Slowly she could feel his hands come around her neck, tightening dangerously. With the last fight she could muster up, she tried to push him away, though it did little to nothing except aggravate him even more.

Her vision grew faint as black dots appeared before her. She tried to suck in a breath, though his grip was constricting it from entering her lungs. Her hands came around his wrists and she felt him tense at this.

"I hate you, Uchiha," she struggled to say, though it came out as a croak.

In his mind, Uchiha Itachi knew this was the smart thing to do. Remove the threat. That had always been number one. The girl at this time was a threat. And he was so close to removing this threat, so very close. With one movement, he could snap her neck, push her aside, and figure out what to do from then. But in his grip, he could feel her shallow breaths, barely making it through. He could hear her struggled coughs and curses. He could feel her hair brush his fingers that wrapped themselves around her neck. He couldn't literally see, but he could imagine her scared face, succumbing to the inevitable. And right now, he figured, she wasn't such a threat.

And he loosed the grip on her neck, but continued to stare into a black oblivion.

She could feel him pause above her, most likely thinking of ways to kill her. Her vision was growing increasingly blurry, and she could see his dark hair, his dark eyes. It was almost as if a ghost was above her. The ghost of a young Sasuke. The ghost of a boy, scared in his own skin, petrified of his own blood. The ghost of a boy that she had once loved. But now she realized that that was not Sasuke anymore. That Sasuke would never be back. So she should enjoy her time that she had with him now and wish each other a farewell. The girl that Sakura had once been emerged from within her, pushing through her ribs and pounding against her skin. Her heart swelled as she did the unimaginable.

She pushed herself up, pressing her lips onto his. She could feel him react, and he paused in confusion. But that had only lasted a second, and he let go completely, resting one arm by the side of her head, the other hand reaching down to her waist. His body rested against hers, pinning her in place.

The first kiss they had shared had been light and tender—a kiss meant for clarification, for sadness. The first kiss was cold, barely even there. This kiss was filled with fire and they pressed themselves into each other, almost as if they had been trying to mold into one. They wasted no time as their kiss deepened, tongues moving around each other's mouths frantically. She had still not caught any sort of breath and her head was feeling incredibly light, on the urge of fainting. Yes, these kisses were different. Very different. But the one thing that had changed the most was the fact that Sakura knew that this Uchiha was the elder, and the younger had disappeared from her mind entirely.

Almost as if catching himself, he pulled back, sitting upright so that he straddled her waist. Sakura blinked, harshly trying to gather back some air. He stood from her and she closed her eyes shut, regulating her breath to calm herself down.

"I will not tolerate any pretty attempts on my life," he said sternly. "You do not hold the right to decide my fate."

They didn't know it then, but what he said was wrong. Their fates lied in each other's hands. Their shaking, clumsy hands. For now and forever.

She could hear him stumble from the room and as soon as she heard that he was far enough, she bolted upright, running from the kitchen. She fell into the wall in the hallway but continued to drag herself to her room. She fell on her back on the bed, swallowing painfully.

Her head pounded painfully and her dry throat burned. Slowly, her eyes closed. In her haze, she saw Uchiha Itachi with his red eyes. She did not think of the younger.

Because Sasuke would never be in her apartment, subtly begging for her to stay in bed, though the world kept asking for them. Sasuke would never allow her to travel with him, sharing a tent as they kept each other warm for the night. Sasuke would never bring her to a hotel to shelter themselves from the rain and share tea with her before traveling once more. Sasuke would never bring her to a place that had such an emotional importance in his life. Sasuke would never share such a thing. Sasuke would never engage in witty banter with her. Sasuke would never touch her. Sasuke would never kiss her with such passion. And Sasuke would _never_ love her.

As she slowly succumbed to sleep, she could see a blinking light. Or perhaps it had just been her imagination.

**X**

When she woke, she could feel his chakra in the area. She could feel the covers wound around her body to tightly that she could barely breath.

When she woke, she could feel _something_. It was something familiar and at the same time, something unknown. Suddenly, it wasn't what it used to be. Without wanting to ponder it further, only to dig herself into an even deeper pit of confusion, she untangled herself from her sheets and stepped onto the cold ground, time passing by quickly as she left the room.

Quietly and swiftly, she made her way down the hallway, searching for the Uchiha. She ventured into a part of the house that she had never found the reason to search, perhaps out of fear or pure avoidance and ignorance of what was really going around her. When she had stumbled upon him, he was neatly lying in bed on his back. Desperately trying to rid her emotion from her eyes, she set her lips into thin lines of determination. She strode up to the bed and he only shifted slightly, obviously aware of her presence. The more she neared, the further he tensed until his sat up in the bed, looking towards her direction though he could not see.

Wordlessly, she breathed in deeply, pausing at the small window in the room. The sky was dark, the sun long gone. What made the sky even gloomier were the large, overbearing gray clouds above them. She didn't doubt that this was some kind of omen. Still, she brushed off her suspicions and turned to him, blinking at his tense form.

"Please relax, Uchiha," she spoke monotonously, speaking as she had done so many times in the hospital. "I cannot heal your eyes if you do not trust me."

"I do not trust you," he replied simply, as if stating a fact. And she figured he was. She shook her head, nevertheless, stepping towards him.

"Fine," she said, clenching her teeth.

There was an overdrawn pause before the Uchiha started to move slightly, only bending his elbows. He still didn't trust her. That much was apparent. She really didn't blame him. His situation was incredibly vulnerable. She understood this. What she didn't understand however, was how she was in the same boat as him, perhaps even more vulnerable. Because the Uchiha could not see, but he could also not feel. Sakura, on the other hand, could see and she could damn well feel.

"I won't kill you," she assured him and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly with annoyance. Her word obviously meant nothing. She stepped forward, perhaps stupidly, and pressed her fingers to his wrist, feeling for a pulse. At first he jumped only slightly, his senses allowing him to deduce that she was nearing. What had surprised him was the heat that radiated off of her, the soft touch that pressed down on his wrist. He felt her fingers slowly wrap around his wrist, giving it a squeeze. "I won't kill you because I _can't_."

There was another pause as the Uchiha contemplated, blinking slowly as he looked away from her. She looked at him as he gazed ahead at nothing. She could never understand what he was thinking or feeling, but she could try to imagine. She could try to imagine looking into absolutely _nothing_ when the whole world was once there, laid out on a silver platter for him to take. She could try to imagine looking into absolutely _nothing_ when he once had _everything_. She could try to imagine that deep blow to the gut as he stared out into black, thinking that one step would send him over the edge. She didn't let go of his wrist. Both of them knew, if he went down, she would follow along. How had it come to this?

Slowly, so slowly that Sakura thought that she was seeing things, Uchiha Itachi lowered himself until he was lying down. He shifted his shoulders, trying to get as comfortable as possible, though it helped little to none. He was still as stiff as a board. As she flowed her chakra to her fingers, she could see him tense greatly. As she quietly told him to open his eyes, she could see that black oblivion darken. And as she slowly let her fingers touch his temples, she could feel it consume them both.

Sakura worked for hours, listening to the quiet patter of rain against the roof.

She worked much as a doctor would, detached and emotionless. The damage on his eyes was excessive, but pretty simple to fix. Tonight would be another sleepless night. The past few days of light dozing and heavy workings that the days molded into one, putting her in a sort of endless dream. She hadn't quite figured if it passed as a nightmare yet. But soon enough, she guessed, she would know.

The only time that she had been caught off guard, when her face slipped, was when the Uchiha opened his mouth to speak. "Why?"

She knew what he meant by this. Why keep the ring? Why follow him? Why stay with him? Why eat, drink, talk with him? Why heal him? Why _be_ with him? And she really didn't know the correct answer. But then again, she figured it wasn't a matter about right or wrong, more a matter of here and now.

So she smiled sadly, answering, "Idle hands are the devil's playthings."

And she couldn't remember when, but sometime during the night as she worked, she heard the Uchiha lightly snore and she couldn't help but wonder when he had fallen asleep.

**X**

**X**

* * *

Chapter Preview:

The sky was pitch black, the house was even darker. She stared into the sky, stomach feeling heavy as the thunder cracked. The rain pounded against the rooftop, making Sakura feel that the roof along with the sky would be falling any second now. In fact, it was long overdue. The rain was loud, unnerving. It sounded like crashing waves, beating down upon the smooth sands of her once simple life.

The thunder crack again, but this time she could feel that sensation in the pit of her stomach deepen as she felt a cool touch on her shoulder. Quickly, she turned around, faced with nothing but darkness. But it needn't matter. They didn't have to see each other to feel the other's presence. She thanked the darkness when she blushed heavily as his hand trailed up her arm, passing her neck, and landing on her cheek.

"You are scared of storms," he observed, and she shook her head, trying to push his hand away no matter how perfectly it seemed to cover that blush of hers.

A/N: He's alive! As if I could _ever_ kill him. I also refuse to believe Itachi is a nice guy. Maybe a good guy. Not a nice guy.

To you.broke.a.promise, seriously. Sasuke sucks. Sakura does too though. Seriously, both of them need to suck it up. To uniFsky, Sasuke never really did it much for me either. I hate whiny. Though he's a pretty fun guy to mess around with. His psyche is so screwed up. Well at least that's how I like to write it. Illegitimi, your reviews are awesome. Seriously. They are love. Lady Kaliska, it was a b-e-a-utiful combo. Randigirl, it couldn't have been the _best_. The best and anything I do, do not go hand and hand. Thanks for the review. And I wasn't supposed to comment back, but you guys make it hard to not say something back. Well, thanks for reading the chapter. Thanks to those who took the time who review and the ones who always do (you guys are my fav.)

Will I bore you with medical details? Nah. Will I bore myself with medical details? Do I even have to ask? Course not! There's a reason why I will not grow up to a be a rich doctor. Mistakes I know. I will fix them when life allows it.

Ok, so I lied. This is not the last chapter. It should take another two chapters if I'm planning right (but my planning was off before, so who knows)! Later loves!


	6. day six

**The Calling**

by **stones**

* * *

**Day Six**

On the sixth day, Sakura felt overwhelmed.

The first conscious thoughts of the day dealt with comfort. The air was warm, but not overwhelming suffocating. She shuffled deeper into the mattress, fingers gripping the edges of the blanket that she had fallen asleep on. Eyes still closed, she tried to pull the blanket towards her to wrap herself in it, but as she did so, she couldn't help but notice the blanket was incredibly bulky and not to mention heavy.

She pulled herself towards it, hugging it tightly. She buried her face in the soft fabric and inhaled greatly, groaning softly with reluctance to start the new day. The sharp slap of reality would hit her sooner than expected.

"Sakura," someone called out to her. The voice spoke in a low, deep whisper.

Mind still confused from sleep, she wrote it off to be Naruto, not noticing that this voice was in fact much deeper.

"Five more minutes, please," she begged, hugging herself closer to her blanket.

Uchiha Itachi had been woken from his sleep by the shuffling in his ear. As a ninja, he had trained himself to be a light sleeper. The slightest of noise had him alert. He opened his eyes, though he could still see nothing. He noticed that he could see a tiny light, but part of him thought he was only imaginating it for it would appear and disappear without notice.

The shuffling he realized was only the pink-haired medic that he had been thrown with into this situation. He expected her to settle again, only to doze off into a deep slumber. But the shifting only got louder. He realized her hands on his side when her fingers clenched and he tensed, the feeling extremely foreign. Her hands tried to pull him toward her, though he dared not budge. It mattered little to one since she pulled herself to him and clung to him tightly.

His muscles relaxed slightly as she inhaled deeply against his back and he could feel the heat from her breath warm his back as she exhaled. When she had started to mewl and groan, he paused in his breathing. The feeling of a warm body curled next to his was a relaxing feeling, he had to admit. All of the woman he had even taken to bed he would have dared not touch this intimately afterward. But now as he lay, he realized that this comfort was only a tease, and if he would allow himself to fall into it, he would only end up disappointed later. You can't miss what you never had.

So he called her name. She only seemed to brush it off as she pleaded against his back for five more minutes. He would of liked to stay this way for a couple more hours, but shifted onto his back, the pink-haired girl moving to lay her head on his chest as she clung onto him.

"Sakura," he said again.

She grumbled, squinting her eyes slowly to adjust to the light. But she was only met with a dark color. Someone's shirt.

"Naruto, I-" her complain started but soon trailed off, reality finally reentering her mind. She lifted her hand off said blanket and backed away from the warmth, eyes widening on what her blanket really was.

Immediately she started to sputter apologies, a mad blush coloring her cheeks. He himself was at a loss of words, though to her, his silence seemed optional.

"I thought," she started, then shook her head, "I was just…I wasn't thinking." She backed to the edge of the bed, uncurling her legs from underneath her to stand on the floor. "I was just sleeping. I'm sorry."

His eyes were blank and she was at an even bigger loss than before. At least when he stared at her with those red eyes, alive with fire, she could tell if he was angry or not. But this, this was leaving her at a dead end. It was a close stretch, but she swore these eyes made her even more nervous.

"It is…understandable," was what he said after a few moments of silence.

As awkward as the air they were breathing, she excused herself, using breakfast as an excuse. Silently she made her way down the narrow hallway. The whole house was quiet, but there was a war going on in her head.

Such emotions were foreign. With Sasuke, she was sure she loved him. She figured her whole life would have been a lie if she hadn't. For years he had been the epitome of the perfect man: determined, self-reliant, strong. Sure she loved him. With her whole heart she was sure. But this feeling she had right now as she picked up the last loaf of bread in the kitchen was nothing she had ever felt before.

Yes, she had loved Sasuke. But now, she realized, she had never been _in_ love with Sasuke.

There was a huge difference. Now she finally understood.

**X**

"There's barely anything left," she said as she set his plate before him. She figured she could have rationed better. The plate had eggs, toast, and some ham on it. The only problem was that tomorrow was another day, and with it came another breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The Uchiha, being her patient, needed these essential vitamins and simply needed to keep his energy up after such extensive injuries and procedures.

"Hm," he said, reaching his hand out to feel around for the table.

"Hm?" she countered, slowly taking a seat next to him. The chair was tilted towards his direction, and for a minute, she wondered if he knew it. "For a man who claims to be a genius, you don't really plan ahead."

"A man who claims he is a genius can never be," he replied monotonously, unfixed by her harmless insults. She slowly took the fork laid out for him and set it in his hands, uneasy by the way he felt around for everything.

He paused when he felt the metal at his hands and Sakura saw his fingers clench before he took the utensil from her hands.

"Is that you claiming to be a genius?" she asked under her breath, not interested in an answer from him.

There had never been a time when Sakura thought she would have babied a murderer, even with her treatment of the Uchiha back in Konoha. The idea was almost humorous. She was sure if she had ever met an S-class criminal such as Itachi himself outside of Konoha's gates, she would be turning tail and running. As it were, that didn't seem to be the case. Sakura never thought she would go out of her way to aid a criminal. That also didn't prove to be the case.

"Here," she said, reaching out to take the utensil away from him. He tensed when he felt her fingers touch him and remove the metal from his hands. His fingers never moved; they were still fixed the way they had been when he held the fork. Sakura dipped the fork to the egg, cutting a piece. She had went to lift it up when she jumped at the flash of his hand and the sound of the fork hitting the ground.

All was silent as her hand stayed in the air, ready to bring the fork, that was now on the floor, to his mouth. She pulled her hand back to herself quickly, keeping it close to her chest. Itachi sat silently, back straight, hand still out from when he smacked the fork away from Sakura's hand.

"Do not make the mistake that I am dependent on you," he said calmly, though his jaw had been clenched.

"No, I," she started, throat dry. "I won't."

And with that he stood from the table, the chair squeaking loudly against the floor. He left the room silently, his memory working hard to keep the layout of the house in mind.

Sakura stared at the plate of food, then fixed her attention to the fork on the floor. Whenever she had dealt with such circumstances in the hospital, her patients were happy to take the help that she had offered. They were more than glad to be taken care of, to return to the happy state of childhood if only for a while.

But Sakura had realized that once again she was swept away. Caught in the under toe and swept away by something that wasn't even real.

**X**

When Sakura had been younger, oceans had always been a fantasy.

Something so big, so vast, so incredibly intimidating just couldn't be real. It wasn't until her mom had taken her to one that she finally understood that something that dangerous could in fact be real. The other children with their parents ran up to the water until it was up to their chins, holding their breath as a large wave passed over their heads.

Sakura couldn't help but realize the sand under feet felt incredibly weak and unstable. She dug her toes through it with ease and she noticed as she dug deeper, the sand grew damper and damper. She looked to the ground, eyes wide, because it had all clicked in her head. The ground that she was standing on—that everyone was standing on—was floating on an ocean. It would be only a matter of time when their pretty little world would crash into the depths, drowning everyone along with it.

As her mother tugged her closer and closer to the blue water, Sakura dug her feet further and further into the sand. The water was bitterly cold when her toes finally made contact. She sat at the shallow edge as her mother waded further. The waves would flow up around her and fall back, slightly pushing her forward into the unknown.

Her mother called for her to swim further, but Sakura had shaken her head no.

She knew that if she would have went any further, the waves would crash around her and she would be swept away. And she gulped when she realized she would be gone. Forever.

**X**

A black crow perched itself on a skinny tree branch that bounced lightly in the wind. It's pert head turned back and forth, and it opened its beak to let out a solitary squawk, one lost in the wind pushing against the world. The wind began to push stronger and the crow swayed on its feet before rationally making the decision to spread its ink black wings and take off, dodging for shelter.

The sky, dark enough to be evening, was misleading. It was only a few hours past noon, but the sun seemed eager to leave the sky, dark overbearing clouds taking its place. Inside the small cottage that sat between the hills, a pink-haired girl bent over her patient, pressing a finger to his wrist to check his pulse. The windows rattled as the wind pushed against them, creating an even more tense feeling in the air. She nodded and backed away, quietly telling the Uchiha that she was done for now.

They both felt the large feeling of uneasiness that the storm was bringing. It was still a few hours away and only now had the wind begun to roar wildly, trying to distract Sakura away from her work.

Uchiha Itachi opened his eyes, for the first time in many hours, and saw light. It was a dull light, barely even there. It was there nonetheless and he couldn't help but stare. It was funny how true the saying, "you never know what you got until its gone," was. This small ray of gold that was surrounded in black mesmerized him.

Still, Sakura only saw blank eyes, a dull memory of what once was. In her mind, she calculated what still needed to be done. First she figured she could rest up for a couple hours and restore her chakra. Then she supposed it was back to work. She wanted this done as soon as possible but she couldn't quite understand why. There was that small thought in the back of her mind that would not leave her alone. It was the small thought that asked her what was waiting for her after this was all done? What was she hoping to go back to? More importantly: could she ever go back to it?

She figured it was just a carrying effect. Once the tides rise and things change, there is no going back. Once you have seen twilight, the evening stars don't shine as bright.

"It should be over soon," she told him, taking a seat at the edge of the bed. He lifted himself into a sitting position, back against the headboard. He looked towards her direction, but continued to stare at the golden ray. The golden ray of light, of hope, of life. "What will you do?"

The golden ray sparkled magnificently as small specks of silver flowed around it. The edges were foggy and looked almost as if they could be blown away, and he never took his eyes off this ray, afraid that if he might, it would be swept away. He half-heard her words, and decided not to answer. Perhaps it was because he didn't know. Or perhaps it was because he did, he just wasn't willing to say it.

"Be a criminal I guess," she said, smiling darkly, her chin wrinkling as her bottom lip pouted. She ran her fingers over her face, sucking in a large breath of air. Dropping her fingers to her side, she looked out the window with a sigh, as it started to shake with the wind passing by.

"And what will you do?" he countered. He closed his eyes and the golden ray disappeared. So many times before, the Uchiha had closed his eyes in search for relaxation. After a monotonous day, there was nothing better than to lean his head against a wall and close his eyes. For when he closed his eyes, it was just him and the darkness. He supposed that's all he ever wanted. He supposed that was how it was supposed to be.

But now, he opened them quickly, trying find this golden ray once more. And it was there, almost as if it had been waiting.

"I don't know," she answered truthfully, her shoulders shaking. "After something like this, there's no way to go back."

And the ray expanded, bringing along hues of burgundy.

Sakura flinched when she felt cold flesh touch her own hand. Her vision, blurred from tears that had not yet been shed, caught sight of the Uchiha's hand next to her own. Had this been intentional? The sides of their hands merely skimmed each other. They did not cover each other nor did they smother each other in an embrace. Their pale hands simply sat beside each other. Neither had decided to move theirs.

"Perhaps that's because you're not supposed to go back," the Uchiha answered.

"You're been running from your past," Sakura muttered weakly, growing defensive.

"And you're been running after yours," he replied quietly.

She blinked slowly, nodding only once. "Perhaps we should slow down a little."

The Uchiha didn't reply at first and they both remained silent, Sakura sniffling in the background. He continued to stare at the ray as all the colors swirled around each other, and they halted in an image so interesting, even he couldn't help but be amazed. "Or we can stop and stay here for a while instead."

Sakura slowly bent over, pressing her face into the pillow his head had been resting on. They both remained silent save for the few gasps of breaths coming from the pink-haired medic, as her shoulders shook with silent tears.

Their hands did not move.

In the distance, the bird found shelter in a hole in a tree. No matter how dark it was, it was thankful for the refuge.

**X**

"Almost," Sakura said to herself more than anyone else. It was late into the night. They had both stirred in the evening and Sakura had taken it upon herself to continue on with her healing. The Uchiha simply laid himself down silently, staring straight up into the ceiling, though he could not see it. The dark had taken away any sort of light, and along with the light went the ray.

Sakura subconsciously stuck her tongue out to the corner of her lips, eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration. She had told the Uchiha to close his eyes as she finished, and her chakra continued to flow through her fingers, making Itachi's nerves tingle with a strange feeling of exhilaration. Just a few more last procedures and the Uchiha's eyesight should be back. _Should _be. It wasn't as if she didn't trust her medical abilities, though such a procedure was complicated and incredibly hard to complete especially in a span of one day, no matter how long it might have felt.

She retreated her hands, breathing deeply. He kept his eyes closed, waiting for her okay, which in truth she was reluctant to give. She had gotten so used to those dark eyes, so used to touching the Uchiha, to feel his skin under her touch, to give him the things that she could offer. With giving him back his eyesight, she felt as if she gave away the past day. It had never seemed like a thing that she coveted, but she stood silently, dreading the red eyes she would see once again.

She laid her hands over his lower arms, gently coaxing him into a sitting position.

"Okay," she whispered, voice cracking.

Slowly, very slowly, the Uchiha opened his eyes and looked down towards the floor. He lifted them up to look at Sakura and she paused, waiting for the final verdict from him. He picked himself off from the bed, walking towards her. Instinctively she backed up until they stood next to the window, the dark clouds making the sky pitch black except for the ray of light from the moon that escaped from its encasing walls.

He lifted his hand and cupped her cheek.

And they both knew it had worked when he had opened his mouth and said, "Sakura, you have freckles."

**X**

The sky was pitch black, the house was even darker. She stared into the sky, stomach feeling heavy as the thunder cracked. The rain pounded against the rooftop, making Sakura feel the roof along with the sky would be falling any second now. The rain was loud, unnerving. They sounded like crashing waves, beating down upon the smooth sands.

The thunder crack again, but this time she could feel that sensation in the pit of her stomach deepen as she felt a cool touch on her shoulder. Quickly, she turned around, faced with nothing but darkness. But it needn't matter. They didn't have to see each other to feel the others presence. She thanked the darkness when she blushed heavily as his hand trailed up her arm, passing her neck, and landing on her cheek.

"You are scared of storms," he observed, and she shook her head, trying to push his hand away no matter how wonderfully it seemed to cover that blush of hers, the blush almost as red as his eyes.

His hair was wet along with his clothes. His fingers left a thin line of water on her arm and she ran her hand along it, the cool rain such a contrast to the warmth coming from her fingers. She wondered what had compelled him to go out into the storm. But she knew the answer. How could she call what he had done ludicrous? How could she not sympathize with the feeling of seeing something that you once thought you would never see again?

"They just make me uneasy," she answered truthfully, shrugging her shoulders as if to just pass this as a small flaw.

But he continued inquiringly. "Do I make you uneasy?"

"You don't make me relax," she answered, tilting her head with a teasing smile.

He didn't smirk however, but fully retreated his hand to himself, tilting his own head slightly. Her smile faded as she looked up at him, the pale face barely visible in the dark.

"My eyes," he started, surprising Sakura. She had honestly suspected further silence from him. "They are a weapon."

"They're more than that," she answered, an attempt to save him from the awkward because she just knew where this was going.

"They are a weapon," he insisted, voice growing edgier. "You have returned them to me."

"When you say it like that, you make me wish I didn't," she replied, hugging herself with her arms.

"You have given me back my eyes," he continued. "More importantly, you have given me back my sight."

Her lip curled up sadly, chin wrinkling. "If you're trying to thank me, there's no—"

Her words were cut off when his lips crashed against hers. She closed her eyes instinctively as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tightly against him. She brought her hands around his neck, fingers burying themselves into his hair. He leaned back, lifting her from the ground, and staggered backwards until the back of his legs hit the bed. Deepening the kiss into a heated fury, he fell backwards onto the bed, bringing Sakura with him.

She moaned at the sensation, for she felt there nothing else to do. She gasped for breath as their lips left each other but she continued to run her fingers through his hair, body arching towards him, as he brought his lips to the nap of her neck, sucking and kissing gently. With a small, 'oh', she hugged herself to him harder as he rolled on top of her, continuing his ministrations.

His hands trailed up her skirt, up the sensitive area of her navel, and to the valley between her breasts. As their lips met again, she pushed his hand away, then moved to pull her shirt over her head clumsily. He leaned back, allowing her to do so, watching her fumble with her clothing. He caught her wailing arm and she looked up at him, her shirt half over her head.

"Slowly," he said, helping her to take her shirt off.

She then moved for his shirt and he lifted his arms, allowing her to take it off. He could only look at the green of her eyes as she looked up at him and smiled, lips not curled in a mocking or insincere gesture. He pushed her further into the bed as he went to kiss her again, sucking on her bottom lip heatedly.

That night Sakura felt.

She felt, tasted, and loved every inch of the Uchiha, cherished the way he held her as their bodies rocked back and forth in a steady rythm. She felt that extreme pleasure as she shut her eyes closed, calling out for Itachi. For her love and not her infatuation. For her respect and not her insolence. For her strength and not for her weakness. For Itachi and not for Sasuke.

Sakura could never recount it as she always thought she would be able to. She had always figured her first time would be special and magical. There was no doubt that it wasn't. That night, Sakura didn't see fireworks, or hear trumpets playing in the distance. She really didn't need too.

That night Sakura laid on her back and held on to the man above her. That night Sakura let everything go and let herself be swept away. Swept away by those waves.

Those big, crashing waves.

**x**

**x**

* * *

Chapter Preview: None 'cause the next chapter is the last! Hardy har har.

A/N: So school and work have been kicking my ass lately. They both seem to think I have no life...outside of school and work, thus the extreme lateness of this chapter. Kay, so this was the climax chapter (omggg no pun intended), so yes, one last chapter and _The Awakening_ and _The Calling_, or _The Happenings_ as I like to call them :), will be finally over. So sad. Itachi and Sakura are just so cute. And I know I need to change the rating to T because I could never ever write a sex scene. I know! I'm a blushing right now! I KNOW!

Lady Kaliska, I like that you talk a lot. It makes me feel like I'm not the only one out there!

uniFsky, I'm working on a one-shot (a rather long one, so I think a one-shottie with a body??) staring our favorite Uchiha brothers (guess who!) and it's so fun to mess with them both. They are so damn interesting. I think anyone (a tad bit) crazy is though.

Thanks to all the lovely reviewers. Kisses for all. Edit later. Stay tuned for the last chapter. Mmmmm bop. Later loves.


	7. day seven

**The Calling**

by **stones**

* * *

**Day Seven**

On the seventh day, she felt like a different person.

She didn't know if it had happened over night. Such a drastic change should have been gradual. And now that she thinks about it, it probably was. While Sasuke was a pull, Itachi was a push. She had been on her way, slowly but surely, against the heavy weight of her ball and chain. Then there was the elder, who tempted her, challenged her, shoved her along. And it all came faster than she could have ever imagined. Maybe, just maybe, she was finally there.

They opened their eyes and met the others. Red and green. There were no thoughts, no certain emotions. But they had both felt it, whatever _it _was.

And she blinked slowly, shifting to lay her hands under her head and she looked upon the Uchiha's face. The sad, cold face. He stared at her, and she hadn't even thought about what he was thinking. Her thoughts, at the moment, seemed more important.

She could just drop everything and start anew.

The sweetest words could be the bitterest thoughts. Could she forget Sasuke? Could she leave behind everything? Could she say goodbye to everything that was? All for him? For this murder—this monster?

"We have to get up," she said quietly, beginning to shuffle.

She ceased her actions, however, when she felt a cold hand lay on her hip. She looked up to him with raised eyebrows, surprised at the gentle touch.

"Stay like this," he instructed simply. He shut his eyes slowly, eyebrows relaxing as the wrinkles over his face smoothed out. "Just for a little while."

She stared for a few minutes, scanning his face. Sakura followed suit, vision fading gradually. They both fell asleep, warmth next to warmth, content. Because they deserved it.

Just for a little while.

**X**

When she awoke again, he was gone.

She figured she should have gotten used to it, or perhaps would in the future. She shook her head, clearing these thoughts. There would be no more getting used to because there would be no more of _this_. Neither of them could afford it.

She stood up, rubbing the back of her neck with a heavy hand. Her stomach growled deeply and she groaned. The bed never looked so inviting. But she stood from the bed, wrapping the white sheets against her naked body, as she scuffled across the room, gathering the pieces of clothing here and there from the floor.

After fixing herself up, scrubbing herself away in the shower because all of a sudden she felt _disgusted _with herself, she made her way to the nearest town, following the river close by. It was a small town, mostly just a market that the surrounding farmers would come to. She picked at a few vegetables, hiding some away in her bag. Five-finger discount, some would call it. Receiving payment for all she had ever done for the world was what she called it.

Ever since she had stepped from the bed that morning, she felt something deep in the pit of her gut. And the harder she tried to ignore it, the more she felt it, the more it spread, the more she became consumed by it. With barely blinking eyes, body almost moving of its own accord, she made her way back to the house. The small, bloody house.

The closer she walked to the house, the more she become engulfed in a sort of bubble, one that she couldn't escape, no matter how many times she pounded her fists against the elastic walls.

She spilled the vegetables from her bag onto the kitchen counter, cursing as some took a tumble to the ground. Slowly she crouched, collecting an apple from the floor, all the while mumbling about the color red. She rose, hand gripping the red apple until her nails dug in, some drips of juice running down her finger.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

She turned, whipping the apple as she did so. The person behind her ducked, ready for her small attack. The apple loudly collided with the wall, smashing into a mushy mess. She reached behind her, hands grabbing desperately across the counter. Allowing herself a small, reassuring smile, her fingers wrapped themselves around a simple kitchen knife. There was silence as she surveyed the person in front of her.

Black cloak, red clouds.

"Interesting," he sneered, a perverted smile on his face. "A little Leaflet."

Her hand clenched the base of the knife as she remained silent. The wrapping from his infamous sword was coming undone, lifelessly flapping in the air. She bit her bottom lip in an attempt to control her emotions, for now was not the time to act drastically.

Naturally, the first thing that came to mind was betrayal.

Uchiha Itachi had used her and instead of killing her himself, he decided to pass along the job to his partner. And a part of her faltered because had she not even mattered enough to be killed by his own hands?

The second thing that flashed through her head was battle. And she slipped on her poker face as best she could. But Kisame just smirked, because even with her attempt at chasing away all emotion, the fear, hurt, and curiosity still shined through her eyes.

"What to do with you," he pondered, mostly speaking aloud to terrify her further.

"It won't be that easy," she told him, voice sounding confident.

"What won't be?" he asked, actually confused, because really, what was this girl doing here?

"Killing me," she clarified, her own eyebrows quirking at the strange uncertainty they both now shared.

In truth, he had been planning on just scaring her off. It was almost as if stumbling upon a small bunny. Besides the thing being downright defenseless, it would be a waste. With just a little shoo, she'd be gone, bouncing away without looking back. A job well done.

"Listen girl-"

They both paused when yet another person entered the small kitchen, making his way as though nothing were amiss. Both his partner and recent nurse looked away from each other to glance at the casual man, sneaking each other perplexed looks, as if trying to figure out what exactly was happening.

Sakura, thinking that the Uchiha had come to sadistically watch her last moments, tensed and finally looked away from the shark-man for good and instead focused on the Uchiha who was nearing quickly and yet, so very slowly. Her back was against the kitchen counter, her hands desperately gripping the edge of the surface. He came closer and closer until he was only a couple feet away.

"It won't work," she warned with a hiss.

The Uchiha raised a brow, looked past her and asked, "The stove?"

Kisame flashed a feral grin from behind.

**X**

She cracked each of her knuckles slowly, the sharp cracks loud against the silence. Biting the bottom of her lip, she looked around her room, or at least the room that she had always run to—the room that she always slept in. Save for last night.

She shook her head as though it would solve her jumbled head and mind that always seemed to linger back to thoughts of last night. Inevitably, a small blush would creep onto her warm cheeks. The thoughts were so vivid as they seemed to flash quickly.

Lazily, she pulled her bag over to herself, opening it wide. She shuffled through it, throwing aside useless wrappers. Her eyes landed upon the notorious orange book and she slowly reached for it and brought it onto her lap. Half-interested, she flipped through the pages, her eyes landing on some of the graphic scenes. She stopped turning the pages and her eyes widened when she saw the image on the page that she had flipped through.

The girl on the page had her eyes closed shut, head tossed back. The man, whose face she couldn't see, was pressed against her, holding her up by her bottom, knocking over a broom in the process. Sakura slightly tipped her head, making note that a closet didn't seem the most convenient place to do something like this.

She paused. Why would she even _need_ to make a note of this? Throwing the book like it had been carrying the plague, she gave a troubled huff, determined to focus instead on the noises coming from the house.

The Uchiha had ushered her out of the kitchen with barely even a nod toward the door and the stern command to return to her room. Apart from feeling like a scolded child and feeling embarrassed at the amused chuckle that came from his partner, she was relieved to put some distance between her and the large, blue-skinned man. It was a wonder she was still in the house in the first place. Akatsuki so near was frightening. So why wasn't she feeling the certain adrenaline to run like she had never run before?

More importantly: since when had she started to think of Uchiha Itachi just as Uchiha Itachi and not Akatsuki?

She felt for chakra, though both of them were faint. Had they left the house? Standing slowly, she crept towards the door. They were outside of the house all right. She could barely feel their presence. She kept still, feeling it out, until one of them had disappeared completely. But which one? One of them was getting stronger and stronger. Quickly Sakura hopped back to the bed. She had soundlessly waited, already recognizing the familiar chakra as the Uchiha's, until she could hear his footsteps outside of her door.

They hesitated right outside, and for a second, Sakura held her breath.

The door opened only seconds after, giving Sakura view of the Uchiha in the doorway. She stood, feeling it the proper thing to do.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Kisame had business to attend to," he informed her. She nodded her head, confused at why he found it necessary to explain this to her. He continued, "I've been anxious to fight with my eyesight and test it out."

She shook her head immediately. "You won't use _that_ on me."

"I won't," he assured.

"Then?" she asked, after a slight pause.

"I want to spar," he clarified, stepping closer into the room. Her eyes narrowed at the Uchiha as she tilted her head. Was he trying to mock her?

"Are you kidding?"

Now it was Uchiha Itachi's turn to tilt his head, which was exactly what he did. Was he joking? What kind of question was that? To Sakura, it was a legitimate question.

Never had someone so…so strong and powerful asked her to spar with them. Even on her old team, she would always have to butt in and suggest a session. And usually her request was met with fake smiles and annoyed glances. But now as she looked up at the man in front of her, there were no overly wide smiles or irritated frowns. There was only an open stare.

"Yea, sure," she sputtered out quickly, nodding. "I mean, yeah. I will."

Itachi merely nodded and there were a few seconds that passed before he shifted slightly, turning towards the door. "Shall we then?"

Sakura nodded again. "We shall."

His posture seemed to straighten out more, if that was even possible. He nodded slowly and Sakura bit the inside of her cheek, trying to figure out why the air had gotten so thick and awkward quickly, and more importantly, why was the Uchiha looking lost?

Inside his head, however, he was wondering what the hell she was doing just standing there. It was practically instinct to wait for her to leave before him. Ladies first, wasn't it? It was incredibly awkward, something the Uchiha rarely ever noticed. He lifted his arms out and motioned towards the door. "After you then."

Sakura could have nearly let out a 'huh' and looked at him as if he were crazy. That was what he had been pausing about? Because she wasn't leaving first? Maybe he was paranoid about turning his back on her. Maybe the Uchiha actually had some manners, contrary to the popular belief. Few people possessed any sort of manners lately. The last time she could remember a man holding a door out for her was when Naruto propped it open for her, telling her to be careful not to spill any of the ramen she had made for the both of them.

"Right," she mumbled, letting out a small, nervous chuckle.

At least she'd be able to let go of all of the thick tension during the spar.

**X**

She could barely feel her legs holding her up her body, which currently felt like a blob of jelly that she couldn't even move.

Just what was she thinking when she agreed to this?

Uchiha Itachi stood across from her, ready to fight. That in itself should have been able to depict the immense feeling of dread and fear that had suddenly taken over her.

"Come at me," he commanded, anxious after standing still for so long.

Sakura licked her dry lips, and shook her head only slightly.

The Uchiha paused. "Would you like me to come at you?"

She would have loved to shake her head again. Of course she didn't want Uchiha Itachi coming at her looking like death itself. And his face was promising a hard fight. She really didn't expect anything less from him. Her pause must have been interpreted as an okay, because Uchiha Itachi suddenly disappeared from her sight.

Her senses peaked and she listened closely, felt wholly, and watched carefully, becoming one with everything around her. The breeze in the air altered her hearing, nothing but the whizzing sound filled her head. Her sight did little to nothing, the Uchiha moved far too fast. But she could feel a presence, and it was coming at her from the side.

Quickly she flipped backwards, moving out of the way. When the tips of her toes touched the ground, she pumped her chakra to her hands, sending a fist forward. It connected with air, as expected. A smile crept onto her face unknowingly, actually enjoying the fight. She lifted her head, finding the image of a sharp kunai coming straight for her thrilling. The knife thudded when it stuck into the log she had substituted herself with, and she appeared a few feet away.

She hadn't expected him to jump towards her and initiate a close range combat, which Sakura had to admit, wasn't a very good strong point of hers. She was kept on her toes as the Uchiha sent fists coming her way, and a kick every now and then. One had hit her in the stomach and succeeded in knocking the air from her. She fell backwards, hands around her stomach.

With a push, she jumped away, already reaching for the kunai Itachi had given to her specifically for the fight. She held it down, flicking her wrist up and letting it fly through the air with a wiz. Her aim was unfortunately off and he dodged it easily. Sakura cursed, panic now settling in because she had fallen behind. The Uchiha clearly had the upper hand at this point. Her smile faded as the fight lost its playfulness and took on a serious feeling.

During the fight, she had managed to send a punch towards the Uchiha's way, and managed to connect it with his jaw, though it wasn't as strong as she would have liked it to be. As her breaths became shorter and legs became weaker, she landed to the ground, back against the tree. He landed in front of her and Sakura barely had time to think about what to do next when she was met with the familiar image a kunai coming her way.

She couldn't even blink as the kunai flew closer and closer. Which way to move? Barely a second passed when the kunai thudded into the bark on the left side of her head. She let go a breath of tense air, tilting her head to examine the kunai only a few inches from her head. It had succeeded in slicing off a piece of her hair that was now slowly falling to the ground—pink against the dark dirt.

She looked up at him, frustrated. "I thought we were only sparring."

"We were," he replied simply.

Between her heavy breaths, she shook her head. "You could have killed me."

"Aa."

She pushed herself off the tree, giving him an incredulous look. Aa? That's all he had to say? What if she had moved? Even a couple of inches? That kunai would have been lodged between her eyes. She gripped her hand around the knife and pulled it out, stumbling backwards.

But she should have known there was no going halfway with the Uchiha. It was either all or nothing.

"Well?" she asked, curious to what he thought, as anyone would be. As much as she hated to admit it, it was an honor to go against someone as great as the Uchiha, and she had definitely taken some good things from the experience.

"You're sloppy," he said simply, much to Sakura's chagrin. She had been expected an encouraging "job well done" and maybe a pat on the back. Wasn't that the polite thing to say to someone after a spar? With Itachi, it was always the truth and there was a part of Sakura that hated it.

Sakura had always been the one to beat around the bush. She was sure as hell aware of everything that went on around her, though she wouldn't really accept it. Sasuke wasn't a hero, but she would never accept that so easily. Sakura wasn't the strongest she could be, but she sure wasn't going to admit that to herself. It was much easier to tell herself that Sasuke was perfect, Sasuke was a god and she was doing _everything_ in her power that she could to be strong, to be the woman she had always wanted to be.

Why take the long road when the easy is paved in gold?

At that moment, she figured Itachi had come to her life to teach her that not all that glittered was gold.

"When you dodge," he started, "imagine where you are going to land instead of flipping around aimlessly. Your moves are predictable and usually focus around one attribute: your strength. Predictability will be your downfall."

And Sakura agreed because it already has been.

He pulled out a kunai, holding it the air so that the sunlight glinted off of it. "When you throw this," he started, moving it down, "flick sideways, not up." And he threw it.

Sakura gasped as it flew by her head again, so closely, that she could hear it.

"Stop that," she hissed, glaring up at his smug face that held that infuriating smirk.

"Stop what?"

"You know exactly what," she said, going to walk past him. She went to pocket the kunai she held, until his voice stopped her from behind.

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about," he whispered so lowly that it was hard for her to hear.

"Picking on me," she clarified for him.

"It is below me to poke fun at a small girl," he countered.

She grit her teeth, stopping in her tracks. Was he trying to get her angry? He was certainly succeeding. Sakura had learned that Uchiha Itachi knew exactly where to prod her, where to push her to make her head a jumbled mess with emotions flowing from every direction. He knew exactly how to make a certain emotion jump out. Well she'd show him just how angry she could be. She turned quickly, flicking her wrist sideways as she sent the kunai flying. It took her a second to see where the knife had landed and she grinned when she saw the Uchiha, leaning sideways, and right behind where he was standing was a kunai lodged in a tree.

Her anger subsided and she reluctantly smiled as the Uchiha straightened out, pulling the kunai from the tree and said, "Good."

"I hate how you do that," she said, crossing her arms, a small smile on her face.

He spun slowly on the back of his heel, turning to look at her. He was slowly taking his time making his way to her, though she took the chance to look him up and down—his eyes that suddenly turned mischievous, the few strands off hair that rebelliously tore away from the bunch during their spar, his thin lips that parted only slightly as he approached. When had he gotten so close?

She shifted on her feet, nervous at the sudden loss in distance between the two. But he seemed comfortable, his face as blank as ever. But his eyes—his eyes—they held a playful glint that made her smile uncertainly and bat her eyes in anticipation.

"And what's that?" he asked, bringing a hand up to take her arm, unraveling them and dropping them to her sides.

"That?" she asked. "That being—" her words were cut off when he moved in closer and pulled her to him, wrapping an arm around her back in the process. Her hands came up in surprise to lie against his chest and she looked up, already mesmerized by his eyes. "That being the way you do…_this._"

"This?" he asked, further closing the distance between them until his lips met hers. She let a small mewl from the back of her throat and fell into him, allowing his body to support her. For now, she was just so willing to give in. He held onto her tighter, a hand coming up to dig into her hair and she leaned her head towards the touch. His lips left hers, but didn't hesitate to latch onto her neck, sucking and biting between the tender kisses. She leaned her head back, allowing him to give affection to her neck, closed her eyes, and just _enjoyed_.

"Yeah," she sighed, wrapping her arms around him, for she felt that if she didn't, she would lose her balance fall into nothing. "That."

And she could feel his smug smirk on her neck as he lifted her up. Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around him.

She wasn't sure if she had heard right, or if the Uchiha had even spoke at all for it seemed incredibly out of character for him to speak at such a time, let alone say what he said. But as he carried her back into the house, she could have sworn between all those heated kisses and feels, she heard, "Oh. _That_."

She smiled peacefully as they broke the kiss and held onto him tightly, resting her chin on his shoulder. As he carried her through the hallway and towards the bedroom, she couldn't help but notice how incredibly narrow the hallway was and the window at the end of it seemed like the light in the tunnel.

And really, she didn't mind going back into the dark.

Just for a little while.

**X**

She blinked slowly, enjoying the warmth of the sheets around their bodies. It was a clutter in the room, filled with discarded clothes and forgotten pillows. It didn't feel stuffy, however, and Sakura would have instead called it peaceful. Peaceful and beautiful. The bed had never seemed to wonderful, and she wondered if they would ever have to get out because she knew there was no way she wanted to. She looked up to Itachi's face, watched how he kept his gaze at the ceiling even though he knew she was looking at him. Maybe it was because he was tired, or maybe it was because she wasn't a threat, but Sakura had hoped that it was because he was comfortable.

"Kisame will be back soon," he said, and she watched his Adam's apple bob as he spoke.

She shook her head, laying her head on his arm. "Don't," she pathetically grunted, reaching her fingers out to graze his chin. She didn't want to pay attention to anything outside of this room, outside of this bed. It was all too perfect, even though she knew, it would be over soon.

He only swatted them away, looking irritated. She recoiled to herself, giving him a confused look. Was he not holding her only a few minutes ago?

"You cannot avoid the inevitable," he said, shifting in the bed to sit up, swinging his legs over the side. She stared at his smooth, bare back, eyebrows still in a worried knot.

"What are you—"

"You will return to Konoha tonight," he simply said. She could not see his mouth or face, and therefore, couldn't see if he was teasing or not. It was hard enough to tell even with seeing his face, but only his voice gave no clues whatsoever.

"So what?" she asked him, keeping her eyes glued on him even as he stood from the bed and bent over to retrieve his pants from the floor. "Just like that?" Her voice cracked and nose flared, a guarantee of a shower of tears. "You used me?"

After having put his pants on, he stood away from the bed, scanning the room for where he had thrown his shirt. "That was never my intention," he said quietly, most likely between grit teeth. Sakura wrapped the blanket around herself and arose on the bed on her knees, staring at him incredulously. How could he be so calm? "We have both let our guards down."

"Let our guards down?" she echoed. He finally turned back, but kept his eyes off of her, and instead scanned the room for the remainder of his clothes. She saw his black shirt on the bed in the corner of her eye and could see that he had spotted it. Slowly he moved over. "Let our guards down," she whispered to herself, though the silence had allowed his ears to catch her words. She took his shirt into her hands and held it out to him as he neared. He took it from her, but before he could pull away, she caught his wrist.

Tensing, he snapped his eyes to hers. They relaxed just as quickly. Her eyes were glazed over, and she continued to look at him and he was surprised that she had not looked away. It was unnerving for it felt as if she could see every part of him. The parts that he was proud of, the parts that he wasn't, and the parts that he had thought he had hid away. Forever.

Her lips parted slightly and he heard her light breaths. And then she spoke in a quiet whisper.

"This isn't a fight."

After a moment, he pulled away from her and she dropped her arm, the other hand still clutching at the sheet covering her. "I know that."

"Than stop acting like you don't," she hissed, a stubborn tear running down her face. But she ignored it. He tried to. "Not everything is a fight."

But for Uchiha Itachi, it _was_.

He went to turn, but she caught him again, only this time instead of wrapping her fingers around his wrist, the tips of her fingers only touched the outside of his hand, but it stung as much as a burn. He looked at her again.

"Please," she pleaded. The word held so much.

"You will leave tonight either way," he said, and it was final. She listened to his footsteps as he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

She fell back on the bed, sniffling and wiping away the burning tears. She knew she shouldn't be crying. She knew she couldn't complain or curse the heavens for the ways things were going.

It was only for a little while.

She _should have_ known that.

**X**

"Medic," was the first thing she had heard him say in the last couple of hours.

She had returned to her room shortly after their small struggle, one that they had barely made out of alive. Without the energy or will to do anything more, she collapsed on her own bed, dug her face into her pillow, and stopped the tears from coming, though a few had slipped past. Somewhere between the thoughts and regrets, she must have dozed off for when her eyes opened again, it was dark. And once again, it was suffocating.

She began to pack her things, stuffing the scroll into her bag harshly. All of her spare clothes that she had discarded during the days of her stay were picked from the floor and the ring that she had kept under her pillow had been taken from its hiding spot. She sat on the bed as she studied the dark ring, not blinking as she studied it closely. No matter what angle or height she had looked at it, it remained the same. There was no flash, there was no flicker, there was nothing. And so she left it on the nightstand, for it was not needed anymore. Neither was she.

That was when he had entered the room, calling out to her, although this time instead of calling her name, he called out what she was. She turned to face him, not being able to resist giving him the glare of half anger and half sorrow. His cloak hid his face, the red clouds clouded her vision. He entered the room despite her cold exterior and closed the door behind him.

"You must be feeling exhausted," he said, more of a statement than an observation.

She nodded only once, glancing away from him. He neared, however, and held a hand out. In the corner of her eye, she saw what he was offering. A soldier pill.

"I don't need anything from you," she stubbornly said, declining his offer.

"Take it, _Sakura_."

She looked to him, lower lip crinkling. Quickly, she took the pill from him and held it in her closed fist. "Is this what you want?" she asked, already the tears starting to come. "Do you get off on this? On making me cry?"

She did not see any reaction from him, only the swirl of his eyes. Wordlessly, he turned away and walked towards the door. Before leaving he titled his head. "When you are ready, come to the kitchen. Do not be frightened by Kisame. He will not touch you."

When he left the room, she lifted her hand and opened her fist. The soldier pill was crushed.

She made her way to the kitchen slowly after, bag slung over her shoulder. There was the overbearing sound of a low voice coming from the lit kitchen that contrasted so greatly from the dark hallway that she was walking through. She peeked in, seeing Kisame at the small kitchen table, a bottle of sake in the middle of the table. Itachi sat across from him, cloak still on. She entered slowly and Itachi's eyes landed on her, followed by Kisame's. His lips were curled in a mocking smile.

"Look who's out and about," he smiled. "The little Leaflet."

She did her best to ignore him. "I'm ready, Uchiha," she said, trying to speak without emotion.

"You hear that?" Kisame laughed, looking over to his partner. "She's ready. I still don't know why you're going through all this trouble. Might as well just dump her on the side of the road."

Sakura slightly backed away, and Itachi must have seen, for he stood and motioned for her to follow him. But before she could, Kisame spoke again.

"What a Leaf, huh?" he asked, pouring himself another glass. "I thought your kind supposed to be the most loyal." He snorted, downing the sake. He turned his head to look at Sakura. "Not only are you fixing his eyes….no. Konoha must love you…but only if they never find out right?"

"Medic," the Uchiha called out sternly, already on his way to the door. Sakura quickly followed suit, trying to dodge Kisame's amused looks. She tried to block out his voice as they left the house, and succeeded as the sound of chirping crickets took over.

Uchiha Itachi quickly jumped away as soon as they were outside. Sakura had to take a moment to realize that he was already sprinting away, and she jumped herself, trying hard to catch up and keep up. The soldier pill he had given her had been a waste. All that sparring and time without food was taking a toll on her, not to mention the incredible guilt, loneliness, and loss she was feeling all at the same time.

What the blue-skinned man had been true. She was betraying her village. She was betraying all of her friends. She was betraying Naruto by being around Akatsuki willingly. It was wrong of her. Dreadfully wrong and she doubted that she could ever repent for her sins.

She watched the back of his cloak as they traveled in silence, the clouds on the black background whipping back and forth as though a sharp wind was pushing them this way and that, anyway that it pleased. They had made good time and had stopped to the ground a while later, landing in silence.

"We are almost near the border," he said. "Where we met."

She nodded. How could she forget?

He looked over his shoulder at her. "Do you know the rest of the way back?"

She nodded solemnly, trying not to think of the parting for too long for she knew the tears would spring to her eyes. But who could blame her?

Her naivety about happy endings had driven her to a dead end. She had already been through this before, how had she let it happen again? The Uchiha was not her Prince Charming, and sadly, neither was Sasuke. She was not a Princess that had been waiting to be saved. If anyone had to save her, it would have to be herself. Because it had taken awhile, but Sakura had finally learned that life was not a fairytale. She was Konoha and he was Akatsuki. She was a medic, he was a murderer. It really was never meant to be.

"We can part now," she said. "I know where I am."

"Very well," he replied.

It started to lightly drizzle, so calmly that Sakura could barely feel it against her cold cheeks. They both stayed there for a while, not knowing where to go from here. It was something both of them had never come across, something that could not be described.

"I will not apologize for being rational," he said, much to Sakura's surprise. "It is the smartest course of action for us to take."

She turned to look at him only to find that he had been looking at her the whole time. She said nothing, only continued to study him as he continued to study her. For who knew how long this precious moment would last? And suddenly the rain came down harder upon them and they washed away the labels, the expectations, the morals.

For at the moment she was just Haruno Sakura and he was just Uchiha Itachi and dammit, they were meant to be.

"You won't apologize for anything," she said as they both walked towards each other. She threw herself onto him and buried her face into his cloak, breathing in his scent for one last time, trying hard to remember the musky scent of rain, for who knows if she'd every be able to smell the real thing ever again.

She felt his arms come around her, holding her to him closely. And they stayed like that, maybe for a couple minutes, maybe for hours. Time didn't seem to matter and Sakura could have cared less if it disappeared forever, because this was where she was happy, and this she never wanted to give up.

But she knew she had to. They both did. For their lives were polar opposites, and even though they came beautifully together for a short while, they would crash back to their original positions, awaiting another rendezvous. He could not play the part she wanted him to. He could not be beside her when she woke every morning. He could not pause his life and figure out his mistakes, and realize that they should be together. He could not be Sasuke. She didn't want him to be.

"I can't be there to catch you when you fall," he spoke into her ear, breaths warm against her cold, red ears.

She looked up at his face, his cold handsome face, and stood on her tiptoes as she gave him a ghost of a kiss. "I won't trip."

Reluctantly, they let each other go.

She stood a few feet from him, holding her bag close to herself.

"Medic," he said with the nod of his head.

"Uchiha," she countered with her own nod.

And they both turned and went their separate ways, knowing Fate would take a cruel mercy upon them and they would meet again.

As Sakura jumped through the trees, staring up at the red clouds above her head, she noticed the tear coming down her cheek.

Not because The Callings had ended, but because something else had begun.

**X**

**X**

**End**

**

* * *

**

A/N: The End.

Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, and enjoyed the story. You guys all made _The Awakening _and _The Calling_ successful. Well, they were successful in my eyes. You all are awesome. I hope to hear from some of you again in future fics that may come along and I hope to read all of your works at some point or another. Once again, thank you.

It's sad to see it go. :\

Later loves.

* * *

**Will there be a sequel to _The Calling?_**

I have one, but it wouldn't be happy. Like at all. :) Plus for what I have in mind, there wouldn't just be one more 'sequel', there'd be two seperate parts that would have to go along and that's a lot of work. I don't really think I'm up to it right now. Maybe come back later? Put an alert on or something? So as of right now, no there will most likely not be a sequel in the near future. There might not be one at all.

But I dunno. Never say never.

**Where's my happy ending?**

I thought it was happy. :/ A peaceful happy. A calm happy. A realistic happy. A Sakura and Itachi kind of happy.

**What? That's it?**

Yezzir.

**Am I happy with the ending?**

I sure as hell am.


End file.
